Nanoscale nonlinear effects in Erbium-implanted Yttrium Orthosilicate

TL;DR

This study explores how nanoscale nonlinear effects influence the behavior of erbium ions implanted in Yttrium Orthosilicate, revealing the impact of implantation conditions and fluence on ion activation and concentration.

Contribution

It introduces models explaining nonlinear ion concentration behavior and highlights the effects of temperature and annealing on implanted erbium ions.

Findings

Hot implantation increases ion activation.

Non-linear relation between fluence and ion concentration.

Developed models explaining observed behaviors.

Abstract

Doping of substrates at desired locations is a key technology for spin-based quantum memory devices. Focused ion beam implantation is well-suited for this task due to its high spacial resolution. In this work, we investigate ion-beam implanted erbium ensembles in Yttrium Orthosilicate crystals by means of confocal photoluminescence spectroscopy. The sample temperature and the post-implantation annealing step strongly reverberate in the properties of the implanted ions. We find that hot implantation leads to a higher activation rate of the ions. At high enough fluences, the relation between the fluence and final concentration of ions becomes non-linear. Two models are developed explaining the observed behaviour.