Long-lived sub-levels of the electronic ground-state manifold of rare-earth ions in crystals can be used as atomic population reservoirs for photon echo-based quantum memories. We measure the dynamics of the Zeeman sublevels of erbium ions that are doped into a lithium niobate waveguide, finding population lifetimes at cryogenic temperatures down to 0.7 K as long as seconds. Then, using these levels, we prepare and characterize atomic frequency combs (AFCs), which can serve as a memory for quantum light at 1532 nm wavelength. The results allow predicting a 0.1% memory efficiency, limited mainly by unwanted background absorption that we believe to be caused by excitation-induced erbium spin flips and frequency shifting due to two-level systems or non-equilibrium phonons. Hence, while it should be possible to create an AFC-based quantum memory in Er^{3 +}:Ti^{4 +}:LiNbO₃, improved crystal growth together with optimized AFC preparation will be required to make it suitable for applications in quantum communication.

@en

Entangling quantum systems with different characteristics through the exchange of photons is a prerequisite for building future quantum networks. Proving the presence of entanglement between quantum memories for light working at different wavelengths furthers this goal. Here, we report on a series of experiments with a thulium-doped crystal, serving as a quantum memory for 794-nm photons, an erbium-doped fiber, serving as a quantum memory for telecommunication-wavelength photons at 1535 nm, and a source of photon pairs created via spontaneous parametric down-conversion. Characterizing the photons after re-emission from the two memories, we find nonclassical correlations with a cross-correlation coefficient of g12(2)=53±8; entanglement preserving storage with input-output fidelity of FIO≈93±2%; and nonlocality featuring a violation of the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt Bell inequality with S=2.6±0.2. Our proof-of-principle experiment shows that entanglement persists while propagating through different solid-state quantum memories operating at different wavelengths.

@en

Large-scale fiber-based quantum networks will likely employ telecommunication-wavelength photons of around 1550 nm wavelength to exchange quantum information between remote nodes, and quantum memories, ideally operating at the same wavelength, that allow the transmission distances to be increased, as key elements of a quantum repeater. However, the development of a suitable memory remains an ongoing challenge. Here, we demonstrate the storage and reemission of single heralded 1532-nm-wavelength photons using a crystal waveguide. The photons are emitted from a photon-pair source based on spontaneous parametric down-conversion and the memory is based on an atomic frequency comb of 6 GHz bandwidth, prepared through persistent spectral-hole burning of the inhomogeneously broadened absorption line of a cryogenically cooled erbium-doped lithium niobate waveguide. Despite currently limited storage time and efficiency, this demonstration represents an important step toward quantum networks that operate in the telecommunication band and the development of integrated (on-chip) quantum technology using industry-standard crystals.

@en

Nanostructured rare-earth-ion-doped materials are increasingly being investigated for on-chip implementations of quantum information processing protocols as well as commercial applications such as fluorescent lighting. However, achieving high-quality and optimized materials at the nanoscale is still challenging. Here we present a detailed study into the restriction of phonon processes in the transition from bulk crystals to small (≤40-nm) nanocrystals by observing the relaxation dynamics between crystal-field levels of Tb3+:Y3Al5O12. We find that the population relaxation dynamics are modified as the particle size is reduced, consistent with our simulations of inhibited relaxation through a modified vibrational density of states and hence modified phonon emission. However, our experiments also indicate that nonradiative processes not driven by phonons are also present in the smaller particles, causing transitions and rapid thermalization between the levels on a time scale of <100ns.@en