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arXiv · 2603.23486

Quantum Saturation of the Electro-Optic Effect

Aiden Ross·Sankalpa Hazra·Albert Suceava·Dylan Sotir·Darrell G. Schlom·Venkatraman Gopalan·Long-Qing Chen
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Abstract

Future quantum computing architectures require electro-optic materials that maintain a strong, stable performance at cryogenic temperatures. In conventional electro-optic materials, large electro-optic coefficients are often confined to narrow temperature windows near structural phase transitions, where small changes in temperature lead to large changes in the electro-optic response. Using thermodynamic analysis, phase-field simulations, experimental growth and cryogenic optical measurements we show that quantum fluctuations can be harnessed to overcome this trade-off. By tuning the ferroelectric phase boundaries down to 0 K, quantum fluctuations induce a saturation regime in which a large electro-optic response becomes nearly temperature-independent below 25 K. We demonstrate that the phase boundaries can be tuned through either strain in BaTiO3 or through chemical composition in Ba1-xCaxTiO3, leading to a large, temperature insensitive, cryogenic electro-optic effect comparable to bulk BaTiO3 at room temperature; the performance exceeds BaTiO3-on-Si by over an order of magnitude. These findings establish a general design principle for engineering high-performance electro-optic materials for cryogenic applications.

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Aiden Ross, Sankalpa Hazra, Albert Suceava, Dylan Sotir, Darrell G. Schlom, Venkatraman Gopalan, Long-Qing Chen. 2026-03-24. Quantum Saturation of the Electro-Optic Effect. https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.23486

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