26th Australian Institute of Physics Congress and the Australian and New Zealand Conference on Optics and Photonics

Erbium 3+ Ion Ensembles in Silicon for Quantum Memories

Not scheduled

20m

Belinda Hutchinson Building (The University of Sydney )

Contributed Oral AIP | Quantum Science and Technology (QST)

Speaker

Justin Brown (University of New South Wales)

Description

Most proposals for quantum networking rely on quantum memories to overcome photon loss and improve the success rate of entanglement distribution. Ensembles of rare-earth ions in solids have been extensively studied as promising candidates for quantum memories. Erbium ions implanted in silicon are a particularly attractive platform because of their excellent optical and electron spin coherence properties, emission in the telecom C-band, compatibility with mature silicon nanofabrication, and the low density of magnetic spins in silicon [1].

Here, we investigate erbium ions implanted in silicon nanostructures for ensemble-based quantum memory applications. We perform photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy of erbium in silicon nanopillars to study how proximity to surfaces affects erbium sites in silicon. We find that annealing within a nanostructure leads to the formation of different erbium sites compared with bulk silicon. We have also fabricated fibre-coupled optical waveguides in erbium-implanted silicon. These waveguides are integrated with electrodes, enabling studies of erbium-ion Stark shifts and potentially providing a route towards electrical control of an atomic-frequency-comb-based quantum memory.

References:
[1] Berkman, I.R., Lyasota, A., de Boo, G.G. et al. Long optical and electron spin coherence times for erbium ions in silicon. npj Quantum Inf 11, 66 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41534-025-01008-x