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Nano Letters

Telecom Quantum Memory over 1 μs in Nanophotonic Lithium Niobate

Priyash Barya, Daren Chen, Ashwith Varadaraj Prabhu, Laura Heller, Edmond K. C. Chow, Hansol Kim, Joshua Akin, Vasileios Niaouris, Jiefei Zhang, Alan Dibos, Pengjie Wang, Elizabeth A. Goldschmidt

Published Aug 31, 2026• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Nanophotonic quantum memory is a vital component for scalable quantum information processing for quantum computing, networking, and sensing applications. We store single-photon-level telecom-band optical pulses for more than 1 μs using an atomic frequency comb in erbium-doped thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN), well beyond what is practically feasible via propagation in even the best nanophotonic devices due to propagation losses. We verify the quantum nature of this storage by demonstrating the phase coherence and subsingle-photon noise upon retrieval. We also show the flexibility of our platform by storing up to 20 temporal modes and demonstrating an acceptance bandwidth of up to 2.2 GHz. These results establish erbium-doped TFLN as a practical platform for on-chip quantum memory at telecom wavelengths, a key missing element for photonic quantum computing and quantum networking.

DOI
10.1021/acs.nanolett.6c02567

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ACS Photonics•Mar 24, 2023•25 citations
Nanophotonic quantum memory is a vital component for scalable quantum information processing for quantum computing, networking, and sensing applications. We store single-photon-level telecom-band optical pulses for more than 1 μs using an atomic frequency comb in erbium-doped thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN), well beyond what is practically feasible via propagation in even the best nanophotonic devices due to propagation losses. We verify the quantum nature of this storage by demonstrating the phase coherence and subsingle-photon noise upon retrieval. We also show the flexibility of our platform by storing up to 20 temporal modes and demonstrating an acceptance bandwidth of up to 2.2 GHz. These results establish erbium-doped TFLN as a practical platform for on-chip quantum memory at telecom wavelengths, a key missing element for photonic quantum computing and quantum networking.
Nanophotonic quantum memory is a vital component for scalable quantum information processing for quantum computing, networking, and sensing applications. We store single-photon-level telecom-band optical pulses for more than a microsecond using an atomic frequency comb in erbium-doped thin-film lithium niobate, well beyond what is practically feasible via propagation in even the best nanophotonic devices due to propagation losses. We verify the quantum nature of this storage by demonstrating the phase coherence and sub-single-photon noise upon retrieval. We also show the flexibility of our platform by storing up to 20 temporal modes and demonstrating an acceptance bandwidth up to 2.2 GHz. These results establish erbium-doped thin-film lithium niobate as a practical platform for on-chip quantum memory at telecom wavelengths, a key missing element for photonic quantum computing and quantum networking.
Integrated photonics has emerged as a promising platform for quantum communication and quantum computation. Thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) has gained significant attention in this field due to its exceptional optical properties, enabling the realization of numerous integrated photonic devices. However, quantum memory, which serves as a universal building block for the quantum internet, has not yet been demonstrated in TFLN. In this study, we realized the first on-chip quantum memory using erbium ions doped TFLN. The developed quantum memory achieves a storage time of 400 ns with an efficiency of 1.95%, significantly outperforming conventional waveguide delay lines. The multimode capability is demonstrated by successfully storing four temporal modes. Furthermore, single-photon-level coherent pulses are encoded into time-bin qubits and stored with a fidelity of 96.8% , surpassing the classical limit achievable by measure-and-prepare strategy. Our results demonstrate the first on-chip quantum memory for telecom-band time-bin qubits in TFLN, providing a key building block toward integrated quantum registers and repeaters for scalable quantum information processing.
Spectrally multiplexed telecom quantum networks require quantum memories combining efficient storage with programmable frequency addressing. An integrated implementation should therefore unite a native telecom transition, efficient storage, and fast on-chip spectral control. Here we demonstrate a cavity-enhanced memory in an isotopically purified 167Er3+^{167}\mathrm{Er}^{3+}167Er3+-doped thin-film lithium niobate microring. Long-lived hyperfine shelving states enable persistent, high-contrast atomic frequency comb preparation with a single-component lifetime of 277.6(52.6)277.6(52.6)277.6(52.6)~s, while cavity impedance matching yields 23.3(5)%23.3(5)\%23.3(5)% on-chip efficiency for 100-ns storage. The intrinsic electro-optic response enables frequency-selective storage and routing at rates up to 20~MHz. We further store and retrieve time-energy-entangled telecom photons, violating an entanglement-witness bound by more than 11 standard deviations. Our results establish erbium-doped thin-film lithium niobate as a programmable light--matter interface for spectrally multiplexed quantum networks.
Atomic frequency combs memories that coherently store optical signals are a key building block for optical quantum computers and quantum networks. Integrating such memories into compact and chip-scale devices is essential for scalable quantum technology, but to date most demonstrations have been in bulk materials or waveguides with large cross-sections, or using fabrication techniques not easily adaptable to wafer scale processing. We demonstrate compact chip-integrated atomic frequency comb storage in rare earth doped thin-film lithium niobate. Our optical memory exhibits a broad storage bandwidth exceeding 100 MHz, and optical storage time of over 250 ns. The enhanced optical confinement in this device structure enables three orders of magnitude reduction in optical power as compared to large ion-diffused waveguides for the same Rabi frequency. These compact atomic frequency comb memories pave the way towards scalable, highly efficient, electro-optically tunable quantum photonic systems that can store and manipulate light on a compact chip.
Quantum memories are a key building block for optical quantum computers and quantum networks. Rare-earth ion-doped crystals are a promising material to achieve quantum memory using an atomic frequency comb protocol. However, current atomic frequency comb memories typically use bulk materials or waveguides with large cross sections or rely on fabrication techniques not easily adaptable to wafer scale processing. Here, we demonstrate a compact chip-integrated atomic frequency comb in rare-earth-doped thin-film lithium niobate. Our optical memory exhibits a broad storage bandwidth exceeding 100 MHz and optical storage time as long as 250 ns. The enhanced optical confinement in this device leads to three orders of magnitude reduction in optical power required for a coherent control as compared to ion-diffused waveguides. These compact atomic frequency comb memories pave the way toward scalable, highly efficient, electro-optically tunable quantum photonic systems that can store and manipulate light on a compact chip.