Engineering high Pockels coefficients in thin-film strontium titanate for cryogenic quantum electro-optic applications

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Ulrich, Anja; Brahim, Kamal; Boelen, Andries; Debaets, Michiel; Khalil, Ahmed; Sun, Conglin; Huang, Yishu; Saseendran, Sandeep Seema; Baryshnikova, Marina; Favia, Paola; Nuytten, Thomas; Sergeant, Stefanie; Van Gasse, Kasper; Kuyken, Bart; De Greve, Kristiaan; Merckling, Clement; Haffner, Christian
• 署名单位: Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre; Ghent University; KU Leuven; KU Leuven; KU Leuven
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.adx3741
• 发表日期: 2025-10-23
• 页码: 390-393
• 关键词: SRTIO3

摘要

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 (SrTiO3) 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 SrTiO3 as a promising material for cryogenic quantum photonics applications.