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Better qubits with erbium-doped titanium dioxide

Optical and microstructural studies of erbium-doped TiO2 thin films on silicon, SrTiO3, and sapphire

Journal of Applied Physics (2024)

Scientists explore the potential of erbium-doped titanium dioxide, or TiO₂, thin films on silicon substrates for scalable quantum devices. Erbium is valuable because it can operate in a band that is compatible with standard optical fiber communications. TiO₂ is an insulating material that works well with silicon-based manufacturing, making it an attractive choice for integration into current technology.

The team found that polycrystalline films show better emission quality compared to single-crystalline structures, despite containing larger structural defects like grain boundaries. They also found that lowering the erbium concentration in the film improved optical quality.

This research suggests that erbium-doped TiO₂ on silicon could be effective for quantum devices integrated into chips.

The research team members are Manish Kumar Singh, Gregory Grant, Gary Wolfowicz, Jianguo Wen, Sean Sullivan, Abhinav Prakash, F. Joseph Heremans, David Awschalom and Supratik Guha, conducting their work at Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago.

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