
Dynamical decoupling of spin ensembles with strong anisotropic interactions
B. Merkel, P. Cova Fariña, A. Reiserer
Physical Review Letters 127, 030501 (2021).
Ensembles of dopants have widespread applications in quantum technology. The miniaturization of corresponding devices is however hampered by dipolar interactions that reduce the coherence at increased dopant density. We theoretically and experimentally investigate this limitation. We find that dynamical decoupling can alleviate, but not fully eliminate, the decoherence in crystals with strong anisotropic spin-spin interactions that originate from an anisotropic g tensor. Our findings can be generalized to many quantum systems used for quantum sensing, microwave-to-optical conversion, and quantum memory.

Coherent Control in the Ground and Optically Excited States of an Ensemble of Erbium Dopants
P. Cova Fariña, B. Merkel, N. Herrera Valencia, P. Yu, A. Ulanowski, and A. Reiserer
Physical Review Applied 15, 64028 (2021).
Ensembles of erbium dopants can realize quantum memories and frequency converters that operate in the minimal-loss wavelength band of fiber optical communication. Their operation requires the initialization, coherent control, and readout of the electronic spin state. In this work, we use a split-ring microwave resonator to demonstrate such control in both the ground and optically excited state. The presented techniques can also be applied to other combinations of dopant and host and may facilitate the further development of quantum memory protocols and sensing schemes.

Erbium dopants in nanophotonic silicon waveguides
L. Weiss, A. Gritsch, B. Merkel, A. Reiserer
Optica 8, 40–41 (2021).
We perform resonant spectroscopy of erbium implanted into nanophotonic silicon waveguides, finding 1 GHz inhomogeneous broadening and homogeneous linewidths below 0.1 GHz. Our study thus introduces a promising materials platform for on-chip quantum information processing.

Laser stabilization to a cryogenic fiber ring resonator
B. Merkel, D. Repp, A. Reiserer
Optics Letters 46, 444-447 (2021).
The frequency stability of lasers is limited by thermal noise in state-of-the-art frequency references. Further improvement requires operation at cryogenic temperature. In this context, we investigate a fiber-based ring resonator. Our system exhibits a first-order temperature-insensitive point around 3.55K, much lower than that of crystalline silicon. The observed low sensitivity with respect to vibrations (<5⋅10−11m−1s2), temperature (−22(1)⋅10−9K−2), and pressure changes (4.2(2)⋅10−11mbar−2) makes our approach promising for future precision experiments.

Coherent and Purcell-Enhanced Emission from Erbium Dopants in a Cryogenic High-Q Resonator
B. Merkel, A. Ulanowski, A. Reiserer
Physical Review X 10, 041025 (2020).
The stability and outstanding coherence of dopants and other atomlike defects in tailored host crystals make them a leading platform for the implementation of distributed quantum information processing and sensing in quantum networks. Albeit the required efficient light-matter coupling can be achieved via the integration into nanoscale resonators, in this approach the proximity of interfaces is detrimental to the coherence of even the least-sensitive emitters. Here, we establish an alternative: By integrating a 19 μm thin crystal into a cryogenic Fabry-Perot resonator with a quality factor of 9×106, we achieve a two-level Purcell factor of 530(50). In our specific system, erbium-doped yttrium orthosilicate, this leads to a 59(6)-fold enhancement of the emission rate with an out-coupling efficiency of 46(8)%. At the same time, we demonstrate that the emitter properties are not degraded in our approach. We thus observe ensemble-averaged optical coherence up to 0.54(1) ms, which exceeds the 0.19(2) ms lifetime of dopants at the cavity field maximum. While our approach is also applicable to other solid-state quantum emitters, such as color centers in diamond, our system emits at the minimal-loss wavelength of optical fibers and thus enables coherent and efficient nodes for long-distance quantum networks.