Rare-earth ion doped thin film technologies
The present disclosure includes a thin film assembly comprising a substrate and an epitaxial crystalline thin film disposed on the substrate, wherein the epitaxial crystalline thin film is a single crystal, wherein at least a portion of the epitaxial crystalline thin film is doped with rare-earth ions at a concentration of less than 100 parts per billion. The disclosure further includes a method of manufacturing a thin film assembly, the method comprising creating, on a substrate and with use of molecular beam epitaxy, an epitaxial crystalline thin film doped with the rare-earth ions at a concentration of less than 100 parts per billion.
1 . A thin film assembly comprising:
a substrate; and
an epitaxial crystalline thin film disposed on the substrate, wherein the epitaxial crystalline thin film comprises a rare-earth oxide,
wherein the epitaxial crystalline thin film is a single crystal,
wherein at least a portion of the epitaxial crystalline thin film is doped with rare-earth ions;
wherein the epitaxial crystalline thin film comprises:
a first undoped buffer epitaxial crystalline thin film on the substrate;
a doped epitaxial crystalline thin film on the first undoped buffer epitaxial crystalline thin film, wherein the doped epitaxial crystalline thin film is doped with the rare-earth ions at a concentration of less than 100 parts per billion; and
a second undoped buffer epitaxial crystalline thin film on the doped epitaxial crystalline thin film;
wherein the first undoped buffer epitaxial crystalline thin film is at least 100 nanometers thick, and the second undoped buffer epitaxial crystalline thin film is at least 100 nanometers thick.
2 . The thin film assembly of claim 1 , wherein the epitaxial crystalline thin film has a thickness between 200 nanometers and 1,500 nanometers.
3 . The thin film assembly of claim 1 , wherein the epitaxial crystalline thin film has a thickness less than two microns.
4 . The thin film assembly of claim 1 , wherein the doped epitaxial crystalline thin film comprises a plurality of doped regions, wherein each of the plurality of doped regions is separated from each other of the plurality of doped regions by at least 100 nm.
5 . The thin film assembly of claim 1 , wherein the substrate is silicon,
wherein epitaxial crystalline thin film is yttrium oxide,
wherein the rare-earth ions are erbium.
6 . The thin film assembly of claim 1 , wherein the rare-earth ions are europium, praseodymium, neodymium, or ytterbium.
7 . The thin film assembly of claim 1 , wherein the epitaxial crystalline thin film is strontium titanate.
8 . The thin film assembly of claim 1 , wherein the thin film assembly is integrated into one of a quantum memory device, a quantum information processing device, a quantum electronic device, and a photonic device.