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Physical Review B

Hyperfine interaction of Er 3 + ions in Y 2 Si O 5 : An electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy study

O. Guillot-Noël, Philippe Goldner, Y. Le Du, E. Baldit, P. Monnier, Kamel Bencheikh

Published Dec 11, 2006• 81 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy of rare earth ions in crystals is a powerful tool to analyze the hyperfine structure of the rare earth ground state. This can be useful for coherent spectroscopy and quantum information applications where the hyperfine structure of the electronic levels is used. In this work, we give a detailed analysis of the hyperfine structure of the ground state $[^{4}I_{15∕2}(0)]$ of ${\mathrm{Er}}^{3+}$ ions in ${\mathrm{Y}}_{2}\mathrm{Si}{\mathrm{O}}_{5}$. The electronic Zeeman, hyperfine, and quadrupole matrices are obtained from angular variations of the magnetic field in three orthogonal crystal planes. An excellent agreement is obtained between experimental and simulated magnetic field positions and relative intensities of EPR lines.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.74.214409

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We report on a high-resolution optical and magneto-optical spectroscopy, luminescence, and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) studies of yttrium orthophosphate single crystals doped with erbium, which are promising telecom-wavelength materials for applications in quantum electronics and quantum information processing. An observation of the hyperfine structure in optical spectra of 167Er^{167}\mathrm{Er}167Er isotope in Er:YPO4{\mathrm{Er}:\mathrm{YPO}}_{4}Er:YPO4​ is presented. Energies and symmetries of 40 crystal-field levels of Er3+{\mathrm{Er}}^{3+}Er3+ in Er:YPO4{\mathrm{Er}:\mathrm{YPO}}_{4}Er:YPO4​ and ggg factors of some of them were determined and successfully modeled on the basis of crystal-field calculations. The obtained set of crystal-field parameters was used in modeling the hyperfine structure observed in the optical and EPR spectra of Er:YPO4{\mathrm{Er}:\mathrm{YPO}}_{4}Er:YPO4​ single crystals.
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The frequency-field and orientation dependences of the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra are measured for impurity Tm 3+ ions in yttrium orthosilicate (Y 2 SiO 5 ) single crystals by stationary EPR spectroscopy in the frequency range of 50–100 GHz at 4.2 K. The position of the impurity ion in the crystal lattice and its magnetic characteristics are determined. The temperature dependences of the spin–lattice and phase relaxation times are measured by pulse EPR methods in the temperature range of 5–15 K and the high efficiency of the direct single-phonon mechanism of spin–lattice relaxation is established. This greatly shortens the spin–lattice relaxation time at low temperatures and makes impurity Tm 3+ ions in Y 2 SiO 5 a promising basis for the implementation of high-speed quantum memory based on rare-earth ions in dielectric crystals.
Clock transitions play an important role in extending the coherence time of rare-earth (RE) ion-doped crystals. It is still a challenge to accurately obtain the hyperfine structure of these crystals to determine their clock transitions and establish a proper solid-state quantum memory system. In this work, a nonspin-Hamiltonian method combining density functional theory (DFT)-based geometric optimization and effective Hamiltonian is utilized to obtain the hyperfine sublevels and clock transitions under an external magnetic field for the Kramers RE ion in crystals. To show clearly, the 173 Yb 3+:Y 2 SiO 5 crystal is first investigated to demonstrate that the complicated hyperfine structure of the Kramers RE ion can be correctly calculated by the complete diagonalization (of energy) matrix (CDM) formalism. Second, optical and angular-dependent electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra of the 171 Yb 3+:Lu 2 Si 2 O 7 crystal are studied by fitting calculations based on the DFT-optimized geometric structure. By reliable fitting parameters, the external magnetic field at clock transitions is determined successfully. Such two case studies indicate that the hyperfine structure and clock transitions of the Kramers RE ion in the crystal can be accurately predicted by the present approach. This is very useful for designing and searching practical RE-based quantum memory materials with longer optical or spin coherence time.