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

Session

AIP QST: Rare-earth quantum memories & interfaces

QST

7 Dec 2026, 14:00

Belinda Hutchinson Building (The University of Sydney )

755. Accurate models of the interaction of polarised light with rare earth quantum memories

Rose Ahlefeldt (The Australian National University)

07/12/2026, 14:00

AIP | Quantum Science and Technology (QST)

Invited talk

Rare-earth quantum memories could fulfil several roles in future quantum networks, including long-lived memories and quantum light sources for repeaters, high-capacity cache memories for quantum computers, and interconnects for heterogeneous quantum processors. These applications demand memory efficiencies above 90%, fidelities exceeding 99.9%, storage capacities of more than 1000 modes, and...

510. High resolution study of the piezospectroscopic limits of future Erbium quantum hard-drives

Benjamin Field (University of Sydney)

07/12/2026, 14:30

AIP | Quantum Science and Technology (QST)

Contributed Oral

A quantum memory using the extremely long-lived coherence time of the rare-earths, offers a unique way to overcome the photon loss of traditional transmission methods [1]. By storing large numbers of photonic modes, transporting the memory to the destination, and reading out the states with high efficiency, such a quantum hard-drive has applications in quantum communication and fundamental...

688. Erbium 3+ Ion Ensembles in Silicon for Quantum Memories

Justin Brown (University of New South Wales)

07/12/2026, 14:45

AIP | Quantum Science and Technology (QST)

Contributed Oral

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...

587. Demonstration of a cavity-enhanced fibre-coupled telecom quantum memory

James Stuart (Australian National University)

07/12/2026, 15:00

AIP | Quantum Science and Technology (QST)

Contributed Oral

Erbium-doped solid-state crystals have emerged as a promising platform for quantum memories in quantum networks and quantum technologies, due to the telecom compatible 1.5 µm transition. In recent years, excellent performance has been achieved in these systems: efficiencies up to 80%, storage of 70 temporal modes [1], and hyperfine coherence times of 3 seconds in a bulk crystal [2]. However,...

356. Generation of entangled optical-microwave modes with an inbuilt quantum memory

Gargi Tyagi (The University of Sydney)

07/12/2026, 15:15

AIP | Quantum Science and Technology (QST)

Contributed Oral

The field of hybrid optical-microwave technology is advancing rapidly, driven by goals such as integrating telecom wavelength optical fibre networks with superconducting circuit-based quantum technology. We present a new protocol for generating entanglement between microwave and optical modes, with an inbuilt quantum memory. The protocol is a hybrid extension of Rephased Amplified Spontaneous...