• Accepted Paper

Magnetically tunable telecommunication-wavelength emission from Er3+ ions in layered WS2

Guadalupe García-Arellano, Gabriel I. López-Morales, Johannes Flick, Cyrus E. Dreyer, and Carlos A. Meriles

Phys. Rev. Applied - Accepted 7 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/w7nd-vbtt

Abstract

Erbium ions (Er3+) provide a telecom-band optical transition with strong magnetic-dipole character, making them attractive for quantum communication and spin–photon interfaces. Identifying host environments that combine low decoherence with photonic compatibility, however, remains a central challenge. Here we investigate Er3+ emission in tungsten disulfide (WS2) flakes, a layered host offering low nuclear-spin density and narrow telecom emission. Using time- and polarization-resolved photoluminescence under modest magnetic fields (< 0.2 T), we observe pronounced dimming, lifetime extension, and rotation of the emission dipole when the field has an out-of-plane component, whereas in-plane fields produce little change. Effective model calculations of Er3+ in monolayer WS2 parametrized from density functional theory suggest that these effects arise primarily from Zeeman-induced mixing of near-degenerate crystal-field sublevels, which modifies the magnitude and orientation of the optical transition dipole moments. Comparative measurements in flakes of different thickness and numerical estimates of the local density of optical states further point to a secondary contribution from dipole coupling to the anisotropic photonic environment of thin WS2 layers. These findings identify layered WS2 as a platform where magnetic fields can tune telecom emission through an interplay of crystal-field physics and anisotropic photonic coupling.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation

If the author has provided any supplemental materials with this article they will be available upon publication of the version of record.

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation