Mapping Spin Coherence of a Single Rare-Earth Ion in a Crystal onto a Single Photon Polarization State

Abstract

We report on optical detection of a single photostable Ce(3+) ion in an yttrium aluminium garnet (YAG) crystal and on its magneto-optical properties at room temperature. The spin quantum state of the emitting level of a single cerium ion in YAG can be initialized by a circularly polarized laser pulse. Coherent precession of the electron spin is read out by observing temporal behavior of circularly polarized fluorescence of the ion. This implies direct mapping of the spin quantum state of Ce(3+) ion onto the polarization state of the emitted photon and represents the quantum interface between a single spin and a single photon.

Coherent properties of single rare-earth spin qubits

“…The strongest transition between the ground 4f(1) and the optically excited 5d(1) spin doublets under s þ circularly polarized excitation is the spin flip transition |4f(1)kS|4d(1)mS. The other three transitions are almost three orders of magnitude weaker 13 . However, decay back to the two ground states is equally probable.…”

“…Experimentally, individual cerium ions were identified in an ultra-pure YAG crystal using confocal microscopy 13 at TE3.5 K (see Methods section and Supplementary Fig. 1).…”

“…This problem can be resolved by addressing single rare-earth spins individually. In the last 2 years, detection of several rare-earth species at a single ion level was demonstrated [11][12][13][14] , although no long-lasting spin coherence for single ions was demonstrated so far. In this Article, we for the first time demonstrate optically addressable rare-earth single-spin qubit in an oxide crystal, namely, cerium ion in yttrium aluminium garnet (YAG), which can be optically initialized, coherently manipulated with microwaves and read out optically.…”

Measurement of linewidths and permanent electric dipole moment change of the Ce4f-5dtransition in Y2Yan1, Karlsson2, Rippe3 et al. 2013Phys. Rev. B252270View full textAdd to dashboardCite

“…The data obtained so far shows that the Ce ion is a very promising readout ion candidate and a set-up for single Ce ion detection by observing the 5d-4f fluorescence is currently under construction. Single Ce ion detection in a YAG (Y 2 Al 5 O 12 ) crystal was recently demonstrated [28]. The ability of state selective readout of a single rare-earth ion in inorganic crystals would be a significant step forward for quantum computing in these materials where high fidelity gate operations on ensembles have already been carried out [7] [8].…”

Nondestructive photon detection using a single rare-earth ion coupled to a photonic cavity

“…A scheme for performing nondestructive measurements utilizing an ensemble of rare-earth ions coupled to a bulk crystalline waveguide has recently been suggested [16]. It is also now possible to observe single rare-earth ions in bulk crystal [17][18][19][20][21] and to map between ion spins and a photon's polarization [22]. There has recently been success in coupling Nd ions doped into yttrium orthosilicate (YSO) [23] and yttrium orthovanadate (YVO) [24] crystals with * cobrien.physics@gmail.com photonic crystal cavities that were fabricated out of bulk crystal.…”