Electron Spin Coherences in Rare-Earth Optically Excited States for Microwave to Optical Quantum Transducers

Abstract

Efficient and reversible optical to microwave coherent transducers are required to enable entanglement transfer between superconducting qubits and light for quantum networks. Rare-earth-doped crystals that possess narrow optical and spin transitions are a promising way to implement these devices. Current approaches use ground-state electron spin transitions that have coherence lifetimes ($T_2$) often limited by spin flip-flop processes and/or spectral diffusion, even at very low temperatures. Here, we investigate spin coherence in an optically excited state of an Er${}^{3+}$:Y${}_2$SiO${}_5$ crystal at temperatures from 1.6 to 3.5 K and under a weak 8.7 mT magnetic field. Spin coherence and population lifetimes of up to 1.6 $\mu$s and 1.2 ms, respectively, are measured by 2- and 3-pulse optically-detected spin echo experiments. Analysis of the dephasing processes suggest that ms $T_2$ can be reached at lower temperatures for the excited-state spins, whereas ground-state spin states could be limited to a few $\mu$s due to resonant interactions with the other Er${}^{3+}$ spins in the lattice (spin diffusion). We propose a quantum transducer scheme with the potential for close to unit efficiency that exploits the specific advantages offered by the spin states of optically excited electronic energy levels.

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• Proposal for transduction between microwave and optical photons using ${}^{167}\mathrm{Er}$-doped yttrium orthosilicate
• Extending the spin coherence lifetimes of ${}^{167}$Er${}^{3+}$$:$Y${}_2$SiO${}_5$ at subkelvin temperatures
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• Spectroscopy and Coherence of an Excited-State Transition in Tm${}^{3+}$:YAlO${}_3$ at Telecommunication Wavelength
• Bidirectional and passive optical field to microwave field quantum converter with high bandwidth