Pulsed laser deposition of rare-earth-doped crystalline oxide films: a step towards quantum information processing on a chip

This project will develop methods for epitaxial growth of high quality, rare earth doped oxide thin films using laser molecular beam epitaxy (laser-MBE). These films will be a platform for optical integrated circuits for quantum information technology. In particular we aim to develop waveguide devices that can transform the performance of gradient echo quantum memories. To achieve this we will need to grow thin crystalline films of rare earth doped oxides with low levels of impurities and defects so that we achieve coherence times for the optical transitions associated with the rare earth dopant that are comparable to those observed with bulk crystals.