  We report a prolonged coherence time of the collective spin wave of a thermal
87Rb atomic ensemble in a paraffin coated cell. The spin wave is prepared
through a stimulated Raman Process. The long coherence time time is achieved by
prolonging the lifetime of the spins with paraffin coating and minimize
dephasing with optimal experimental configuration. The observation of the long
time delayed-stimulated Stokes signal in the writing process suggests the
prolonged lifetime of the prepared spins; a direct measurement of the decay of
anti-Stokes signal in the reading process shows the coherence time is up to 300
us after minimizing dephasing. This is one hundred times longer than the
reported coherence time in the similar experiments in thermal atomic ensembles
based on the Duan-Lukin-Cirac-Zoller (DLCZ) and its improved protocols. This
prolonged coherence time sets the upper limit of the memory time in quantum
repeaters based on such protocols, which is crucial for the realization of
long-distance quantum communication. The previous reported fluorescence
background in the writing process due to collision in a sample cell with buffer
gas is also reduced in a cell without buffer gas.
