Erbium-Implanted Materials for Quantum Communication Applications

TL;DR

This paper explores ion implantation as a method to develop Erbium-doped materials with improved optical properties for quantum communication, demonstrating control over local environments and coherence times through thermal processing.

Contribution

It introduces ion implantation as an efficient screening technique for Er3+ host materials and shows how post-implantation thermal treatment can optimize optical coherence.

Findings

Ion implantation can produce diverse Er3+ local environments.

Thermal processing improves inhomogeneous linewidths.

Optical properties comparable to bulk-doped materials achieved.

Abstract

Erbium-doped materials can serve as spin-photon interfaces with optical transitions in the telecom C-band, making them an exciting class of materials for long-distance quantum communication. However, the spin and optical coherence times of Er3+ ions are limited by currently available host materials, motivating the development of new Er3+-containing materials. Here, we demonstrate the use of ion implantation to efficiently screen prospective host candidates, and show that disorder introduced by ion implantation can be mitigated through post-implantation thermal processing to achieve inhomogeneous linewidths comparable to bulk linewidths in as-grown samples. We present optical spectroscopy data for each host material, which allows us to determine the level structure of each site, allowing us to compare the environments of Er3+ introduced via implantation and via doping during growth. We demonstrate that implantation can generate a range of local environments for Er3+, including those observed in bulk-doped materials, and that the populations of these sites can be controlled with thermal processing.