We report the fabrication and characterization of a Ti4+:Tm3+:LiNbO3 optical waveguide in view of photon-echo quantum memory applications. In particular, we investigated room- and cryogenic-temperature properties via absorption, spectral hole burning, photon echo, and Stark spectroscopy. We found radiative lifetimes of 82 μs and 2.4 ms for the 3H4 and 3F4 levels, respectively, and a 44% branching ratio from the 3H4 to the 3F4 level. We also measured an optical coherence time of 1.6 μs for the 3H6↔3H4, 795 nm wavelength transition, and investigated the limitation of spectral diffusion to spectral hole burning. Upon application of magnetic fields of a few hundred Gauss, we observed persistent spectral holes with lifetimes up to seconds. Furthermore, we measured a linear Stark shift of 25 kHz⋅cm/V. Our results are promising for integrated, electro-optical, waveguide quantum memory for photons.
@article{arxiv.0911.4947,
title = {Spectroscopic investigations of a Ti:Tm:LiNbO3 waveguide for photon-echo quantum memory},
author = {N. Sinclair and E. Saglamyurek and M. George and R. Ricken and C. La Mela and W. Sohler and W. Tittel},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0911.4947},
year = {2014}
}