Telecom Quantum Memory over 1 μs in Nanophotonic Lithium Niobate
- 31 August 2026
- journal article
- Published by American Chemical Society (ACS) in Nano Letters
- Vol. 26 (36) , 12056-12062
Abstract
Nanophotonic quantum memory is a vital component for scalable quantum information processing for quantum computing, networking, and sensing applications. We store single-photon-level telecom-band optical pulses for more than 1 μs using an atomic frequency comb in erbium-doped thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN), well beyond what is practically feasible via propagation in even the best nanophotonic devices due to propagation losses. We verify the quantum nature of this storage by demonstrating the phase coherence and subsingle-photon noise upon retrieval. We also show the flexibility of our platform by storing up to 20 temporal modes and demonstrating an acceptance bandwidth of up to 2.2 GHz. These results establish erbium-doped TFLN as a practical platform for on-chip quantum memory at telecom wavelengths, a key missing element for photonic quantum computing and quantum networking.Keywords
All Related Versions
Funding Information
- Office of Naval Research (N00014-25-1-2394)
- U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) (DE-FOA-0002253)
- National Science Foundation (NSF) (2016136)
This publication has 54 references indexed in Scilit:
- Integrated quantum photonics on thin-film lithium niobateProgress in Quantum Electronics, 2026
- An Atomic Frequency Comb Memory in Rare-Earth-Doped Thin-Film Lithium NiobateACS Photonics, 2023
- Integrated Photonic Platform for Rare-Earth Ions in Thin Film Lithium NiobateNano Letters, 2019
- Satellite-to-ground quantum key distributionNature, 2017
- Integrated sources of photon quantum states based on nonlinear opticsLight: Science & Applications, 2017
- A multiplexed light-matter interface for fibre-based quantum networksNature Communications, 2016
- Loophole-free Bell inequality violation using electron spins separated by 1.3 kilometresNature, 2015
- Optical decoherence and persistent spectral hole burning in Er3+:LiNbO3Journal of Luminescence, 2010
- A solid-state light–matter interface at the single-photon levelNature, 2008
- The quantum internetNature, 2008