Engineering high Pockels coefficients in thin-film strontium titanate for cryogenic quantum electro-optic applications
- 23 October 2025
- journal article
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science
- Vol. 390 (6771) , 390-393
Abstract
Pockels materials are notable for their strong electro-optic interaction and rapid response times and are therefore used extensively in optical communications. However, at cryogenic temperatures, Pockels coefficients are reduced in many materials optimized for room-temperature operation, which is a major hurdle for emerging quantum technologies. Here, we show that strontium titanate (SrTiO 3 ) can be engineered to exhibit a Pockels coefficient of 345 picometers per volt at 20 hertz at cryogenic temperatures, a value twice as high as any other thin-film electro-optic material. By adjusting the stoichiometry, we were able to increase the Curie temperature and realize a ferroelectric phase yielding a high Pockels coefficient, so far with limited optical losses of decibels per centimeter. Our findings position SrTiO 3 as a promising material for cryogenic quantum photonics applications.Keywords
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