Event
Proposal Exam: Yuqi Zhao
Thursday, November 2, 2023
9:00 a.m.
ERF 1207
Maria Hoo
301 405 3681
mch@umd.edu
ANNOUNCEMNET: Ph.D. Research Proposal Exam
Name: Yuqi Zhao
Committee:
Professor Edo Waks (Chair)
Professor Thomas Murphy
Professor Avik Dutt
Date/time: Thursday, November 02, 2023, 9 am
Location: ERF 1207
Title: Integrated Photonics in Rare-Earth Ion-Doped Thin-Film Lithium Niobate
Abstract: Rare-earth ion ensembles doped into crystals are promising material systems for a broad spectrum of both classical and quantum applications. These ions have a partially filled 4f orbital protected by 5s, 5p, and 6s full outer orbitals. This shielding from environmental noise results in stable 4f-4f transitions, characterized by long lifetimes and coherence times. Such properties make the ions valuable for various applications, including lasers, optical amplifiers, filters, and key components in quantum networks such as quantum memories and qubits. However, these rare-earth ion emitters typically reside in bulk crystals, which cannot support compact photonic devices for scalable integration. To fill in this gap, thin-film lithium niobate has recently emerged as a promising integrated host platform for rare earth ions. Lithium niobate effectively combines excellent electro-optic, acousto-optic and nonlinear properties, large piezoelectric response, a wide transparency window, and a relatively high refractive index. Importantly, the rare-earth ions doped into the thin-film lithium niobate platform retain their long lifetimes and coherence time, as those in typical bulk crystals. Moreover, this integrated platform is compatible with wafer-scale planar nanofabrication techniques. The incorporation of rare-earth ions into a thin-film lithium niobate platform therefore opens up a wealth of new possibilities for active optoelectronic systems that operate in both classical and quantum regimes. In this research proposal, we take advantage of this promising platform and propose several integrated photonic devices in rare-earth ion-doped thin-film lithium niobate. We introduce our work on an atomic frequency comb memory and cavity-enhanced narrowband spectral filters, and also propose a cavity enhanced quantum memory and a power limiter based on this versatile platform.
