Comparative study of light storage in antirelaxation-coated and buffer-gas-filled alkali vapor cells

We perform a comparative study of light storage in antirelaxation-coated and buffer-gas-filled alkali-vapor cells using electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in warm rubidium vapor. The use of a buffer-gas-filled cell resulted in $\approx$10-fold improvement in storage time and efficiency compared to antirelaxation coated cells. Our findings contribute to the development of future field-deployable high-performance quantum memories.