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Spin Lifetime Mechanisms in Erbium-Doped Fiber for Quantum Network Applications

Bornadel, Mahdi

Published Dec 9, 2025• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Erbium-doped silica fiber (EDF) is evaluated as a telecom-band quantum-memory platform via spectral hole burning at millikelvin temperatures. We map spin-population decay versus temperature (about 7 to 2400 mK) and magnetic field (0 to 200 mT), revealing two relaxation components above about 80 mK and, at about 7 mK, a third, ultra-slow component enabling more than 9 h population storage under optimized field. The relative component weights are nearly condition-independent, consistent with distinct ion classes. A single phenomenological model, combining Er-Er flip-flops, a TLS-mediated direct process with field and temperature scaling, and a Raman-like term, fits all data using shared exponents while allowing mechanism weights to vary between classes. We also observe a Lorentzian-to-Gaussian hole-shape crossover below about 80 mK, pointing to changing broadening mechanisms. These results establish long-lived spin-population storage in standard EDF and delineate a practical operating window. They motivate denser measurements across the below-80 mK crossover, isotope-resolved tests, and complementary optical-coherence studies.

DOI
10.11575/prism/50819

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Erbium-doped silica fiber (EDF) is evaluated as a telecom-band quantum-memory platform via spectral hole burning at millikelvin temperatures. We map spin-population decay versus temperature (about 7 to 2400 mK) and magnetic field (0 to 200 mT), revealing two relaxation components above about 80 mK and, at about 7 mK, a third, ultra-slow component enabling more than 9 h population storage under optimized field. The relative component weights are nearly condition-independent, consistent with distinct ion classes. A single phenomenological model, combining Er-Er flip-flops, a TLS-mediated direct process with field and temperature scaling, and a Raman-like term, fits all data using shared exponents while allowing mechanism weights to vary between classes. We also observe a Lorentzian-to-Gaussian hole-shape crossover below about 80 mK, pointing to changing broadening mechanisms. These results establish long-lived spin-population storage in standard EDF and delineate a practical operating window. They motivate denser measurements across the below-80 mK crossover, isotope-resolved tests, and complementary optical-coherence studies.
We use spectral hole burning to investigate spin dynamics within the electronic Zeeman sublevels of the ground state of the erbium ions in erbium-doped fibers (EDF). Conducted at ultra-low temperatures and under varying magnetic fields, our study reveals distinct changes in spin relaxation dynamics across different conditions. We identified three decay components at approximately 7 mK, with one achieving spin lifetimes of over 9 hours under optimal conditions, while two components were observed at higher temperatures. The fairly stable relative weights of the decay components across conditions suggest distinct ion populations contributing to the observed relaxation dynamics. While earlier studies struggled to account for all decay components at higher temperatures, our approach successfully models spin dynamics across all observed decay components, using a consistent set of underlying mechanisms, including spin flip-flop interactions, direct coupling to two-level systems, and Raman-type processes, and distinguishes the decay components by the strengths with which these mechanisms contribute. These results suggest EDFs' potential as a promising candidate for quantum memory applications, with further room for optimization.
Erbium-doped solids are promising candidates for fiber-based quantum networks due to their emission wavelength, which aligns with the telecom band over which optical fibers exhibit minimal loss. Among these, erbium-doped silica fiber (EDF) stands out for its availability, ease of use, and seamless integration with existing fiber-optic infrastructure. In this work, using the two-pulse photon-echo (2PPE) technique, we measured the homogeneous linewidth of the 4 I 13/2 ↔ 4 I 15/2 optical transition under varying magnetic fields and temperatures. We observed an effective homogeneous linewidth of approximately 8 kHz at ∼7mK at an optimal magnetic field of 0.09 T, representing over two orders of magnitude improvement compared to earlier reports measured at T ≈700mK. We also present a comprehensive model for the combined magnetic field and temperature dependency of the effective homogeneous linewidth. Additionally, we employed three-pulse photon-echo (3PPE) measurements to investigate spectral diffusion and decoherence processes and conclude that Two-Level System (TLS) effects are significantly suppressed at sufficiently low temperatures, below ∼100mK.
Understanding decoherence in cryogenically cooled rare-earth-ion doped glass fibers is of fundamental interest and a prerequisite for applications of these material in quantum information applications. Here we study the coherence properties in a weakly doped erbium silica glass fiber motivated by our recent observation of efficient and long-lived Zeeman sublevel storage in this material and by its potential for applications at telecommunication wavelengths. We analyze photon echo decays as well as the potential mechanisms of spectral diffusion that can be caused by coupling with dynamic disorder modes that are characteristic for glassy hosts, and by the magnetic dipole-dipole interactions between Er3+{\mathrm{Er}}^{3+}Er3+ ions. We also investigate the effective linewidth as a function of magnetic field, temperature, and time, and then present a model that describes these experimental observations. We highlight that the operating conditions (0.6 K and 0.05 T) at which we previously observed efficient spectral hole burning coincide with those for narrow linewidths (1 MHz)---an important property for applications that has not been reported before for a rare-earth-ion doped glass.
Optical quantum memories operating directly at telecom wavelengths are a key enabling technology for long-distance quantum networks, yet on-demand storage onto long-lived ground-state spins in this spectral region has remained elusive due to the challenge of coherently transferring optical excitations to hyperfine spin states. Here we demonstrate spin-wave storage in 167^{167}167Er3+^{3+}3+:Y2_22​SiO5_55​ at 0.8 K and 1.1 T, establishing the core operational primitive required for on-demand telecom quantum memories. Using classical optical control pulses, we coherently transfer collective optical excitations to erbium hyperfine states with transfer efficiency exceeding 12%, enabling on-demand retrieval. We measure a hyperfine population lifetime of 25 s and demonstrate spin-wave storage for up to 25 μμμs. By identifying hyperfine inhomogeneous broadening as the dominant present limitation, our measurements define a clear pathway toward second-scale storage through improved spectral tailoring and dynamical decoupling. The results highlight the application of erbium-based solid-state memories for scalable fiber-compatible quantum repeater architectures.
Long-lived population storage in optically pumped levels of rare-earth ions doped into solids, referred to as persistent spectral hole burning, is of significant fundamental and technological interest. However, the demonstration of deep and persistent holes in rare-earth ion doped amorphous hosts, e.g., glasses, has remained an open challenge for many decades---a fact that motivates our work towards a better understanding of the interaction between impurities and vibrational modes in glasses. Here we report the observation and detailed characterization of such holes in an erbium-doped silica glass fiber cooled to below 1 K. We demonstrate population storage in electronic Zeeman sublevels of the erbium ground state with lifetimes up to 30 seconds and 80% spin polarization. In addition to its fundamental aspect, our investigation reveals a potential technological application of rare-earth ion doped amorphous materials, including at telecommunication wavelength.