Ultralong optical dephasing time in Eu^3+:Y_2SiO_5

Abstract

We report what is to our knowledge the first measurement of linear and nonlinear spectroscopic properties for the (7)F(0)-(5)D(0) transition of Eu(3+):Y(2)SiO(5). Two clearly resolved lines at 579.879 and 580.049 nm, stemming from different sites, show dissimilar photoluminescence and hole spectra. In addition, these two sites have different inhomogeneous and homogeneous linewidths, which suggests that the local-field effect is smaller for one site. Specifically, the less affected site exhibits the longest dephasing time (822 micros) of any solid, which corresponds to a homogeneous linewidth of 387 Hz, and this linewidth is found to persist for hours without apparent spectral diffusion.

Frequency stabilization to 6 × 10−16 via spectral-hole burning

“…Both the ground ( 7 F 0 ) and excited ( 5 D 0 ) states of the Eu 3+ laser stabilization transition have small magnetic moments, making them insensitive to magnetic field fluctuations [19]. The 5 D 0 excited state has a lifetime of 1.9 ms and photon echo measurements indicate linewidths as low as 122 Hz for the 7 F 0 → 5 D 0 transition [20,21]. When Eu 3+ is doped into the Y 2 SiO 5 crystal, each ion experiences a slightly different crystal field that causes a different Stark shift for each absorber.…”

Hole-burning techniques for isolation and study of individual hyperfine transitions in inhomogeneously broadened solids demonstrated inPr3+:Y2Nilsson1, Rippe2, Kröll3 et al. 2004Phys. Rev. B1936830View full textAdd to dashboardCite

“…The number of addressable frequency channels, given by the ratio ⌫ in hom / ⌫ hom , can be as large as 10 7 -10 8 . 13,14 The narrow homogeneous linewidth corresponds to a long optical phase memory T 2 according to T 2 = ͑⌫ hom ͒ −1 , and consequently materials of this type are used in studies of optical coherent transient effects and in many applications utilizing coherent transients. 2,4,6,9,[15][16][17] Recently, rare-earth ion-doped materials have been used in quantum optical experiments, such as in demonstrations of slow light based on electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT), 18 for the demonstration of single-photon self-interference 19 and in experiments aimed at using the dopant ions as quantum computer hardware.…”

Experimental demonstration of data erasure for time-domain optical memories

“…A good signal-to-noise ratio is obtained throughout with some variation from minor changes in alignment and laser intensity. The restriction owing to the hole-burning lifetime for YSiO 5 :Eu 3ϩ is many hours 3 and many orders of magnitude longer than the times used in the present experiment. Two pulse photon echoes are strongest when the pulse areas are of the order of ͟/2; in the present experiment this would involve a pulse duration of 10 s. Here 3-s pulses were preferred, to enable operation in the linear regime and avoid any saturation effects.…”

“…There are two rare-earth sites, and the laser was tuned to be resonant with the transition corresponding to site 1 at 579.9 nm. 2,3 The line has an inhomogeneous linewidth of 5 GHz and a homogeneous linewidth determined from the time-domain dephasing time measurements of 210 Hz. 2 The maximum storage capability is given by the ratio of these linewidths and equals 2.4 ϫ 10 7 .…”

“…2,3 In the simplest scheme, narrow spectral lines or holes are bleached from an inhomogeneously broadened absorption band, and the presence or the absence of absorption at a given frequency is used to store digital 1's and 0's. 4 The writing and the reading of data require tuning a laser to specific frequencies and accessing bits one at a time.…”