Electron-spin spectral diffusion in an erbium doped crystal at millikelvin temperatures
Miloš Rančić, Marianne Le Dantec, Sen Lin, Sylvain Bertaina, T. Chanelière, Diana Serrano, Philippe Goldner, Ren‐Bao Liu, Emmanuel Flurin, D. Estève, D. Vion, Patrice Bertet
Abstract
Erbium doped crystals offer a versatile platform for hybrid quantum devices because they combine magnetically sensitive electron-spin transitions with telecom-wavelength optical transitions. At the high doping concentrations necessary for many quantum applications, however, strong magnetic interactions of the electron-spin bath lead to excess spectral diffusion and rapid decoherence. Here we lithographically fabricate a 4.4 GHz superconducting planar microresonator on a ${\text{CaWO}}_{4}$ crystal doped with Er ions at a concentration of 20 ppm relative to Ca. Using the microwave resonator, we characterize the spectral diffusion processes that limit the electron-spin coherence of Er ions at millikelvin temperatures by applying two- and three-pulse echo sequences. The coherence time shows a strong temperature dependence, reaching 1.3 ms at 23 mK for an electron-spin transition of $^{167}\mathrm{Er}$.