Enhancing erbium optical emission rate via careful host crystal selection

ORAL

Abstract

Erbium ion (Er3+) doped solid-state crystals are a quality candidate for quantum communication technologies. [1-3] However, across common host materials, Er3+ is a “dim” ion, with low optical radiative rates in its 1.5 µm transition – of kHz at most except by cavity enhancement. [2-4] This low rate provides insufficient bandwidth for usable quantum information transfer protocols. [5]

One route to higher Er3+ radiative emission rates is by careful selection of crystal hosts. The crystal field around an Er3+ ion admixes into the 4f11 states a small degree of opposite-parity character, yielding a host-dependent emission rate increase. [6] Via high-throughput computational methods, we estimate the emission rates of Er3+ in ~58,000 materials. As verification, the emission rates of ten Er-implanted hosts are measured and compared to the model. Our study shows that some hosts could provide a 10x or more increase in Er3+ emission rate compared to common hosts like TiO2 or CeO2, providing future avenues towards MHz-bandwidth Er-based quantum memory.

[1] Jiefei Zhang, et al., npj Quantum Information 10(1):119, 2024.

[2] Gregory D. Grant, et al., APL Materials, 12(2), 2024.

[3] Cheng Ji, et al., ACS Nano 18(14):9929-9941, 2024.

[4] Charles W. Thiel, et al., Journal of Luminescence., 131(3): 353-361, 2011.

[5] David D. Awschalom, et al., Technical Report, Argonne National Lab, 2022.

[6] Brian R. Judd, Physical Review, 127(3):750, 1962.

*This work is supported by Q-NEXT, a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science National Quantum Information Science Research Centers under Award Number DE-FOA-0002253. Additional support was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science; Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences, and Engineering Division, and by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under grant number FA95502410266. This research was also supported by an appointment to the Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program at the University of Chicago administered by Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) through an interagency agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).

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Publication: Planned paper for submission in late 2025: "Enhancing erbium optical emission rate via careful host crystal selection"

Presenters

  • Gregory D Grant

    • University of Chicago

Authors

  • Gregory D Grant

    • University of Chicago

  • Swarnabha Chattaraj

    • University of Chicago
    • Argonne National Laboratory

  • Chelsie Hadley

    • Western Illinois University

  • Joseph Heremans

    • University of Chicago
    • Argonne National Laboratory

  • David D Awschalom

    • University of Chicago

  • Jiefei Zhang

    • Argonne National Laboratory

  • Supratik Guha

    • University of Chicago
    • The University of Chicago