High-resolution spectroscopy of single Pr${}^{3+}$ ions on the ${}^3$H${}_4$-${}^1$D${}_2$ transition

Abstract

Rare earth ions in crystals exhibit narrow spectral features and hyperfine-split ground states with exceptionally long coherence times. These features make them ideal platforms for quantum information processing in the solid state. Recently, we reported on the first high-resolution spectroscopy of single Pr${}^{3+}$ ions in yttrium orthosilicate (YSO) nanocrystals. While in that work we examined the less explored ${}^3$H${}_4$-${}^3$P${}_0$ transition at a wavelength of 488 nm, here we extend our investigations to the ${}^3$H${}_4$-${}^1$D${}_2$ transition at 606 nm. In addition, we present measurements of the second-order autocorrelation function, fluorescence lifetime, and emission spectra of single ions as well as their polarization dependencies on both transitions; these data were not within the reach of the first experiments reported earlier. Furthermore, we show that by a proper choice of the crystallite, one can obtain narrower spectral lines and, thus, resolve the hyperfine levels of the excited state. We expect our results to make single-ion spectroscopy accessible to a larger scientific community.

5 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (1)

• Coherent properties of single rare-earth spin qubits

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