Persistent atomic frequency comb based on Zeeman sub-levels of an erbium-doped crystal waveguide

Abstract

Long-lived sub-levels of the electronic ground-state manifold of rare-earth ions in crystals can be used as atomic population reservoirs for photon echo-based quantum memories. We measure the dynamics of the Zeeman sub-levels of erbium ions that are doped into a lithium niobate waveguide, finding population lifetimes at cryogenic temperatures down to 0.7 K as long as seconds. Then, using these levels, we prepare and characterize atomic frequency combs (AFCs), which can serve as a memory for quantum light at 1532 nm wavelength. The results allow predicting a 0.1% memory efficiency, limited mainly by unwanted background absorption that we believe to be caused by excitation-induced erbium spin flips and frequency shifting due to two-level systems or non-equilibrium phonons. Hence, while it should be possible to create an AFC-based quantum memory in <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">E</mml:mi> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">r</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mo>:</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">T</mml:mi> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">i</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mn>4</mml:mn> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mo>:</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">L</mml:mi> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">i</mml:mi> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">N</mml:mi> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">b</mml:mi> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">O</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> </mml:msub> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> , improved crystal growth together with optimized AFC preparation will be required to make it suitable for applications in quantum communication.