Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:1608.07132 · International Journal of Quantum Information

Single-photon emitters based on NIR color centers in diamond coupled with solid immersion lenses

D. Gatto Monticone, J. Forneris, M. Levi, Alfio Battiato, Federico Picollo, P. Olivero, P. Traina, E. Moreva, E. Enrico, G. Brida, Ivo Pietro Degiovanni, Marco Genovese, G. Amato, Luca Boarino

Published Nov 1, 2014• 6 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Single-photon sources represent a key enabling technology in quantum optics, and single color centers in diamond are a promising platform to serve this purpose, due to their high quantum efficiency and photostability at room temperature. The widely studied nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers are characterized by several limitations, thus other defects have recently been considered, with a specific focus of centers emitting in the near-infra red (NIR). In the present work, we report on the coupling of native NIR-emitting centers in high-quality single-crystal diamond with solid immersion lens (SIL) structures fabricated by focused ion beam (FIB) lithography. The reported improvements in terms of light collection efficiency make the proposed system an ideal platform for the development of single-photon emitters with appealing photophysical and spectral properties.

DOI
10.1142/s0219749915600114

Related papers

A new, enhanced diamond single photon emitter in the near infra-red

Igor Aharonovich, Chunyuan Zhou, Alastair D. Stacey +6 more

Individual color centers in diamond are promising for near-term quantum technologies including quantum key distribution and metrology. Here we show fabrication of a new color center which has photophysical properties surpassing those of the two main-stay centers, namely the nitrogen vacancy and NE8 centers. The new center is fabricated using focused ion beam implantation of nickel into isolated chemical vapor deposited diamond micro-crystals. Room temperature photoluminescence studies reveal a narrow emission in the near infrared region centered at 768 nm with a lifetime as short as 2 ns. Its focused ion beam compatibility opens the prospect to fabrication with nanometer resolution and realization of integrated quantum photonic devices. Preliminary investigations suggest that this center arises from an as-yet uncharacterized nickel-silicon complex.

arXiv:0902.3051•Feb 18, 2009•1 citation

Native NIR-emitting single colour centres in CVD diamond

D. Gatto Monticone, P. Traina, Ekaterina V. Moreva +8 more

Single-photon sources are a fundamental element for developing quantum technologies, and sources based on colour centres in diamonds are among the most promising candidates. The well-known nitrogen vacancy centres are characterized by several limitations, and thus few other defects have recently been considered. In the present work, we characterize, in detail, native efficient single colour centres emitting in the near infra-red ( λ = 740–780 nm) in both standard IIa single-crystal and electronic-grade polycrystalline commercial chemical vapour deposited (CVD) diamond samples. In the former case, a high-temperature ( T > 1000 °C) annealing process in vacuum is necessary to induce the formation/activation of luminescent centres with good emission properties, while in the latter case the annealing process has marginally beneficial effects on the number and performance of native centres in commercially available samples. Although displaying significant variability in several photo-physical properties (emission wavelength, emission rate instabilities, saturation behaviours), these centres generally display appealing photophysical properties for applications as single photon sources: short lifetimes (0.7–3 ns), high emission rates (∼50–500 × 10 3 photons s −1 ) and strongly (>95%) polarized light. The native centres are tentatively attributed to impurities incorporated in the diamond crystal during the CVD growth of high-quality type-IIa samples, and offer promising perspectives in diamond-based photonics.

arXiv:1403.4394•New Journal of Physics•May 1, 2014•38 citations

Enhanced single-photon emission in the near infrared from a diamond color center

Igor Aharonovich, Chunyuan Zhou, Alastair D. Stacey +7 more

Individual color centers in diamond are promising for near-term quantum technologies including quantum key distribution and metrology. Here we show fabrication of an as-yet uncharacterized nickel-related complex in diamond which has photophysical properties surpassing the two main-stay centers for single-photon applications, namely, the nitrogen-vacancy and the nickel-nitrogen complex (NE8) center. This center was fabricated using focused ion-beam implantation of nickel into isolated chemical vapor-deposited diamond crystals. A possible correlation of the center to a Ni/Si complex is substantiated by a coimplantation of Ni and Si into a pure bulk diamond. Room-temperature photoluminescence studies reveal a narrow emission in the near infrared region centered at 768 nm with a lifetime as short as 2 ns.

Physical Review B•Jun 15, 2009•83 citations

A single photon source based on NV centers in diamond nanocrystals

Juliane Bahe, Xiaoqing Zhou, Tobias Jan Kippenberg +4 more

The development of reliable devices to generate single photons is crucial for applications in quantum cryptography, as well as for fundamental quantum optics experiments. Due to their extremely high photostability at room temperature, optically active defects in solids, the so called color centers, are among the most promising candidates. Single NV (nitrogen-vacancy) centers in diamond have been demonstrated to be able to generate single photons and have already shown advantages compared to attenuated laser pulses in a quantum cryptography experiment. The nitrogen-vacancy center (NV center) in diamond consists of a substitutional nitrogen atom and an adjacent vacancy. This complex exhibits an optical transition with a fluorescence lifetime of 11.6 ns. The room temperature spectrum of the NV center consists of the zero-phonon line at 637 nm and broad phononic sidebands with a FWHM of more than 100 nm. Due to the existence of a shelving level the efficiency of the NV center as a single photon source is limited. Additionally, the high diffraction index of bulk diamond restricts the efficiency to collect the fluorescence light.

Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC)•Jun 1, 2009•4 citations

Strongly enhanced photon collection from diamond defect centers under microfabricated integrated solid immersion lenses

John Patrick Hadden, J. P. Harrison, A. C. Stanley‐Clarke +5 more

The efficiency of photon collection from optically active defect centers in bulk diamond is greatly reduced by refraction at the diamond-air interface. We report on the fabrication and measurement of a geometrical solution to the problem; integrated solid immersion lenses (SILs) etched directly into the surface of diamond. An increase of a factor of 10 was observed in the saturated count-rate from a single negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV−) within a 5 μm diameter SIL compared with NV−’s under a planar surface in the same crystal. Such a system is potentially scalable and easily adaptable to other defect centers in bulk diamond.

arXiv:1006.2093•Applied Physics Letters•Dec 13, 2010•292 citations

Photonic Crystal Coupled to N-V Center in Diamond

Luca Marseglia

In this work we aim to exploit one of the most studied defect color centers in diamond , the negatively charged nitrogen vacancy (NV -) color center, a three level system which emits a single photon at a wavelength of 637nm providing a possible deterministic single photon emitter very useful for quantum computing applications.Moreover the possibility of placing aNV -in a photonic crystal cavity will enhance the coupling between photons and NV -center.This could also allow us to address the ground state of the NV -center, whose spin, could be used as qubit.It is also remarkable to notice that for quantum computing purposes it is very useful to increase the light collection from the NV -centers, and in order to do that we performed a study of another structure, the solid immersion lens, which consists of an hemisphere whose center is at the position of an emitter, in this case the NV -center, increasing the collection of the light from it.In order to create these structures we used a method called focused ion beam which allowed us to etch directly into the diamond many different kinds of structures.In order to allow an interaction between these structures and the NV -centers we need to have a method to locate the NV -center precisely under the etched structures.We developed a new technique (Marseglia et al. (2011)) where we show how to mark a single NV -center and how to etch a desired structure over it on demand.This technique gave very good results allowing us to etch a solid immersion lens onto a NV -previously located and characterized, increasing the light collection from the NV -of a factor of 8×.

InTech eBooks•Mar 30, 2012•0 citations
Single-photon sources represent a key enabling technology in quantum optics, and single color centers in diamond are a promising platform to serve this purpose, due to their high quantum efficiency and photostability at room temperature. The widely studied nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers are characterized by several limitations, thus other defects have recently been considered, with a specific focus of centers emitting in the near-infra red (NIR). In the present work, we report on the coupling of native NIR-emitting centers in high-quality single-crystal diamond with solid immersion lens (SIL) structures fabricated by focused ion beam (FIB) lithography. The reported improvements in terms of light collection efficiency make the proposed system an ideal platform for the development of single-photon emitters with appealing photophysical and spectral properties.
Individual color centers in diamond are promising for near-term quantum technologies including quantum key distribution and metrology. Here we show fabrication of a new color center which has photophysical properties surpassing those of the two main-stay centers, namely the nitrogen vacancy and NE8 centers. The new center is fabricated using focused ion beam implantation of nickel into isolated chemical vapor deposited diamond micro-crystals. Room temperature photoluminescence studies reveal a narrow emission in the near infrared region centered at 768 nm with a lifetime as short as 2 ns. Its focused ion beam compatibility opens the prospect to fabrication with nanometer resolution and realization of integrated quantum photonic devices. Preliminary investigations suggest that this center arises from an as-yet uncharacterized nickel-silicon complex.
Single-photon sources are a fundamental element for developing quantum technologies, and sources based on colour centres in diamonds are among the most promising candidates. The well-known nitrogen vacancy centres are characterized by several limitations, and thus few other defects have recently been considered. In the present work, we characterize, in detail, native efficient single colour centres emitting in the near infra-red ( λ = 740–780 nm) in both standard IIa single-crystal and electronic-grade polycrystalline commercial chemical vapour deposited (CVD) diamond samples. In the former case, a high-temperature ( T > 1000 °C) annealing process in vacuum is necessary to induce the formation/activation of luminescent centres with good emission properties, while in the latter case the annealing process has marginally beneficial effects on the number and performance of native centres in commercially available samples. Although displaying significant variability in several photo-physical properties (emission wavelength, emission rate instabilities, saturation behaviours), these centres generally display appealing photophysical properties for applications as single photon sources: short lifetimes (0.7–3 ns), high emission rates (∼50–500 × 10 3 photons s −1 ) and strongly (>95%) polarized light. The native centres are tentatively attributed to impurities incorporated in the diamond crystal during the CVD growth of high-quality type-IIa samples, and offer promising perspectives in diamond-based photonics.
Individual color centers in diamond are promising for near-term quantum technologies including quantum key distribution and metrology. Here we show fabrication of an as-yet uncharacterized nickel-related complex in diamond which has photophysical properties surpassing the two main-stay centers for single-photon applications, namely, the nitrogen-vacancy and the nickel-nitrogen complex (NE8) center. This center was fabricated using focused ion-beam implantation of nickel into isolated chemical vapor-deposited diamond crystals. A possible correlation of the center to a Ni/Si complex is substantiated by a coimplantation of Ni and Si into a pure bulk diamond. Room-temperature photoluminescence studies reveal a narrow emission in the near infrared region centered at 768 nm with a lifetime as short as 2 ns.
The development of reliable devices to generate single photons is crucial for applications in quantum cryptography, as well as for fundamental quantum optics experiments. Due to their extremely high photostability at room temperature, optically active defects in solids, the so called color centers, are among the most promising candidates. Single NV (nitrogen-vacancy) centers in diamond have been demonstrated to be able to generate single photons and have already shown advantages compared to attenuated laser pulses in a quantum cryptography experiment. The nitrogen-vacancy center (NV center) in diamond consists of a substitutional nitrogen atom and an adjacent vacancy. This complex exhibits an optical transition with a fluorescence lifetime of 11.6 ns. The room temperature spectrum of the NV center consists of the zero-phonon line at 637 nm and broad phononic sidebands with a FWHM of more than 100 nm. Due to the existence of a shelving level the efficiency of the NV center as a single photon source is limited. Additionally, the high diffraction index of bulk diamond restricts the efficiency to collect the fluorescence light.
The efficiency of photon collection from optically active defect centers in bulk diamond is greatly reduced by refraction at the diamond-air interface. We report on the fabrication and measurement of a geometrical solution to the problem; integrated solid immersion lenses (SILs) etched directly into the surface of diamond. An increase of a factor of 10 was observed in the saturated count-rate from a single negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV−) within a 5 μm diameter SIL compared with NV−’s under a planar surface in the same crystal. Such a system is potentially scalable and easily adaptable to other defect centers in bulk diamond.
In this work we aim to exploit one of the most studied defect color centers in diamond , the negatively charged nitrogen vacancy (NV -) color center, a three level system which emits a single photon at a wavelength of 637nm providing a possible deterministic single photon emitter very useful for quantum computing applications.Moreover the possibility of placing aNV -in a photonic crystal cavity will enhance the coupling between photons and NV -center.This could also allow us to address the ground state of the NV -center, whose spin, could be used as qubit.It is also remarkable to notice that for quantum computing purposes it is very useful to increase the light collection from the NV -centers, and in order to do that we performed a study of another structure, the solid immersion lens, which consists of an hemisphere whose center is at the position of an emitter, in this case the NV -center, increasing the collection of the light from it.In order to create these structures we used a method called focused ion beam which allowed us to etch directly into the diamond many different kinds of structures.In order to allow an interaction between these structures and the NV -centers we need to have a method to locate the NV -center precisely under the etched structures.We developed a new technique (Marseglia et al. (2011)) where we show how to mark a single NV -center and how to etch a desired structure over it on demand.This technique gave very good results allowing us to etch a solid immersion lens onto a NV -previously located and characterized, increasing the light collection from the NV -of a factor of 8×.