Rare-earth atoms in solids as a quantum photonics platform

Dr. Elizabeth Goldschmidt, US Army Research Laboratory

Goergen 101

Abstract:

 I will give an overview of the emerging field of rare-earth atoms in solids as the basis for a variety of quantum information applications. These systems have a number of advantageous properties including long inherent coherence times, lack of motional dephasing or substantial spectral diffusion, and high density, that make them promising systems for important quantum information tasks, such as long-lived, efficient photonic quantum memory. A major challenge associated with most atom-like quantum emitters in solids, rare-earth atoms included, is the inhomogeneous broadening of the optical transition energy caused by site-to-site variation in the local environment. I will discuss initial experimental results on the effect of this broadening on electromagnetically induced transparency in a europium doped sample. Finally I will present our plans and ongoing work to mitigate the effects of inhomogeneity by investigating a new class of materials.

Bio:

Elizabeth Goldschmidt is a physicist at the US Army Research Laboratory in Adelphi, MD. She was a Joint Quantum Institute graduate fellow at the University of Maryland where her PhD research was on single photon generation and characterization and quantum memory. She was then a National Research Council post doctoral fellow at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, MD where she studied ultracold atoms in optical lattices and Rydberg atoms for quantum simulation. She joined the Army Research Lab in 2016 where her experimental research program is in solid-state quantum optics and quantum information.

Location: Goergen 101

Refreshments will be served.