Optical decoherence studies of Tm3+:Y3Ga5O12

C. W. Thiel, N. Sinclair, W. Tittel, and R. L. Cone
Phys. Rev. B 90, 214301 – Published 1 December 2014

Abstract

Decoherence of the 795 nm H36 to H34 transition in 1%Tm3+:Y3Ga5O12 (Tm:YGG) is studied at temperatures as low as 1.2 K. The temperature, magnetic field, frequency, and time scale (spectral diffusion) dependence of the optical coherence lifetime is measured. Our results show that the coherence lifetime is impacted less by spectral diffusion than other known thulium-doped materials. Photon echo excitation and spectral hole burning methods reveal uniform decoherence properties and the possibility to produce full transparency for persistent spectral holes across the entire 56 GHz inhomogeneous bandwidth of the optical transition. Temperature-dependent decoherence is well described by elastic Raman scattering of phonons with an additional weaker component that may arise from a low density of glass-like dynamic disorder modes (two-level systems). Analysis of the observed behavior suggests that an optical coherence lifetime approaching 1 ms may be possible in this system at temperatures below 1 K for crystals grown with optimized properties. Overall, we find that Tm:YGG has superior decoherence properties compared to other Tm-doped crystals and is a promising candidate for applications that rely on long coherence lifetimes, such as optical quantum memories and photonic signal processing.

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  • Received 21 October 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.90.214301

©2014 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

C. W. Thiel1, N. Sinclair2, W. Tittel2, and R. L. Cone1

  • 1Department of Physics, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana 59717, USA
  • 2Institute for Quantum Science and Technology, and Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada

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Vol. 90, Iss. 21 — 1 December 2014

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