We report on the observation of dispersion-managed (DM) dark soliton emission in a net-normal dispersion erbium-doped fiber laser. We found experimentally that dispersion management could not only reduce the pump threshold for the dark soliton formation in a fiber laser, but also stabilize the single dark soliton evolution in the cavity. Numerical simulations have also confirmed the DM dark soliton formation in a fiber laser.
We demonstrate an optical unstable phase for a laser driven erbium ion ensemble. The transmitted light through an erbium-doped yttrium orthosillicate crystal becomes dynamically unstable when illuminated by a strong continuous-wave laser. Transient net gain was recorded if the light passes the sample twice. The experimental results are understood in the framework of a many-body system interacting with a classical field, where the ion-ion interaction becomes significant as a result of the high erbium concentration. A Bloch-equation model that includes the excitation-induced frequency-shift is i…
We describe a method to measure the spectral radiance of a source in an absolute way without the need of a reference. Here we give the necessary detail to allow for the device to be reproduced from standard fiber-optic components. The device is suited for fiber-optic applications at telecom wavelengths and calibration of powermeters and spectrometers at light levels from 1nW to 1uW.
Long-lived population storage in optically pumped levels of rare-earth ions doped into solids, referred to as persistent spectral hole burning, is of significant fundamental and technological interest. However, the demonstration of deep and persistent holes in rare-earth ion doped amorphous hosts, e.g. glasses, has remained an open challenge since many decades -- a fact that motivates our work towards a better understanding of the interaction between impurities and vibrational modes in glasses. Here we report the first observation and detailed characterization of such holes in an erbium-doped …
We studied optical coherence properties of the 1.53 $μ$m telecommunication transition in an Er$^{3+}$-doped silicate optical fiber through spectral holeburning and photon echoes. We find decoherence times of up to 3.8 $μ$s at a magnetic field of 2.2 Tesla and a temperature of 150 mK. A strong magnetic-field dependent optical dephasing was observed and is believed to arise from an interaction between the electronic Er$^{3+}$ spin and the magnetic moment of tunneling modes in the glass. Furthermore, we observed fine-structure in the Erbium holeburning spectrum originating from superhyperfine int…
Erbium doped solids are potential candidates for the realization of a quantum memory for photons at telecommunication wavelengths. The implementation of quantum memory proposals in rare earth ion doped solids require spectral tailoring of the inhomogeneous absorption profile by efficient population transfer between ground state levels (spin polarization) using optical pumping. In this article we investigate the limiting factors of efficient optical pumping between ground state Zeeman levels in an erbium doped Y2SiO5 crystal. We introduce two methods to overcome these limiting factors: stimulat…
A Cluster-Based Model of the Spectrum of Erbium-Doped GdVO$_4$
Basic Research Laboratories, NTT, Inc.（NTT公司基础研究所）；Department of Physics, University of Otago（奥塔哥大学物理系）；Dodd-Walls Centre for Photonic and Quantum Technologies（多德-沃尔斯光子与量子技术中心）
We demonstrate fast and accurate control of the evolution of collective atomic coherences in an Erbium doped solid using external electric fields. This is achieved by controlling the inhomogeneous broadening of Erbium ions emitting at 1536 nm using an electric field gradient and the linear Stark effect. The manipulation of atomic coherence is characterized with the collective spontaneous emission (optical free induction decay) emitted by the sample after an optical excitation, which does not require any previous preparation of the atoms. We show that controlled dephasing and rephasing of the a…
Long-lived sub-levels of the electronic ground-state manifold of rare-earth ions in crystals can be used as atomic population reservoirs for photon echo-based quantum memories. We measure the dynamics of the Zeeman sub-levels of erbium ions that are doped into a lithium niobate waveguide, finding population lifetimes at cryogenic temperatures as long as seconds. Then, using these levels, we prepare and characterize atomic frequency combs, which can serve as a memory for quantum light at 1532 nm wavelength. The results allow predicting a 0.1\% memory efficiency, mainly limited by unwanted backg…
Erbium-doped crystals offer a versatile platform for hybrid quantum devices because they combine magnetically-sensitive electron-spin transitions with telecom-wavelength optical transitions. At the high doping concentrations necessary for many quantum applications, however, strong magnetic interactions of the electron-spin bath lead to excess spectral diffusion and rapid decoherence. Here we lithographically fabricate a 4.4 GHz superconducting planar micro-resonator on a $\text{CaWO}_{4}$ crystal doped with Er ions at a concentration of twenty parts per million relative to Ca. Using the microw…
The realization of a future quantum Internet requires processing and storing quantum information at local nodes, and interconnecting distant nodes using free-space and fibre-optic links. Quantum memories for light are key elements of such quantum networks. However, to date, neither an atomic quantum memory for non-classical states of light operating at a wavelength compatible with standard telecom fibre infrastructure, nor a fibre-based implementation of a quantum memory has been reported. Here we demonstrate the storage and faithful recall of the state of a 1532 nm wavelength photon, entangle…
Understanding decoherence in cryogenically-cooled rare-earth-ion doped glass fibers is of fundamental interest and a prerequisite for applications of these material in quantum information applications. Here we study the coherence properties in a weakly doped erbium silica glass fiber motivated by our recent observation of efficient and long-lived Zeeman sublevel storage in this material and by its potential for applications at telecommunication wavelengths. We analyze photon echo decays as well as the potential mechanisms of spectral diffusion that can be caused by coupling with dynamic disord…
We study the bandwidth and multiplexing capacity of an erbium-doped optical memory for quantum storage purposes. We concentrate on the protocol ROSE (Revival of a Silenced Echo) because it has the largest potential multiplexing capacity. Our analysis is applicable to other protocols that involve strong optical excitation. We show that the memory performance is limited by instantaneous spectral diffusion and we describe how this effect can be minimised to achieve optimal performance.
Erbium-doped materials can serve as spin-photon interfaces with optical transitions in the telecom C-band, making them an exciting class of materials for long-distance quantum communication. However, the spin and optical coherence times of Er3+ ions are limited by currently available host materials, motivating the development of new Er3+-containing materials. Here, we demonstrate the use of ion implantation to efficiently screen prospective host candidates, and show that disorder introduced by ion implantation can be mitigated through post-implantation thermal processing to achieve inhomogeneo…
We present measurements of the linear Stark effect on the $^{4}$I$_{15/2} \to$ $^{4}$I$_{13/2}$ transition in an Er$^{3+}$-doped proton-exchanged LiNbO$_{3}$ crystalline waveguide and an Er$^{3+}$-doped silicate fiber. The measurements were made using spectral hole burning techniques at temperatures below 4 K. We measured an effective Stark coefficient $(Δμ_{e}χ)/(h)=25\pm1$kHz/Vcm$^{-1}$ in the crystalline waveguide and $(\bar{Δμ_{e}}χ)/(h)=15\pm1$kHz/Vcm$^{-1}$ in the silicate fiber. These results confirm the potential of Erbium doped waveguides for quantum state storage based on controlled …
Fiber guided optical signal propagating in a Erbium doped nonlinear resonant medium is known to produce cleaner solitonic pulse, described by the self induced transparency (SIT) coupled to nonlinear Schroedinger equation. We discover two new possibilities hidden in its integrable structure, for amplification and control of the optical pulse. Using the variable soliton width permitted by the integrability of this model, the broadening pulse can be regulated by adjusting the initial population inversion of the opant atoms. The effect can be enhanced by another innovative application of its const…
We implement the ROSE protocol in an erbium doped solid, compatible with the telecom range. The ROSE scheme is an adaptation of the standard 2-pulse photon echo to make it suitable for a quantum memory. We observe an efficiency of 40% in a forward direction by using specific orientations of the light polarizations, magnetic field and crystal axes.
