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arXiv:1706.08898 · Physical Review Applied

Dynamics of Single-Photon Emission from Electrically Pumped Color Centers

Igor A. Khramtsov, Mario Agio, Dmitry Yu. Fedyanin

Published Aug 31, 2017• 33 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Color centers in diamond and related wide-band-gap semiconductors are the leading candidates for single-photon sources under ambient conditions, but their behavior under electrical control is poorly understood. The authors present a comprehensive theory to address single-photon emission from electrically pumped color centers. Self-consistent simulations furthermore reproduce the experimentally measured emission characteristics, creating a backbone for the development of practical single-photon sources for applications of quantum optics.

DOI
10.1103/physrevapplied.8.024031

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Color centers in diamond and related wide-band-gap semiconductors are the leading candidates for single-photon sources under ambient conditions, but their behavior under electrical control is poorly understood. The authors present a comprehensive theory to address single-photon emission from electrically pumped color centers. Self-consistent simulations furthermore reproduce the experimentally measured emission characteristics, creating a backbone for the development of practical single-photon sources for applications of quantum optics.
Optical sources that deliver single photons on demand play a key role in quantum cryptography and optical quantum computations. At present, color centers in wide-bandgap semiconductors, such as the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) and silicon-vacancy (SiV) centers in diamond, are considered to be the most promising candidates for practical quantum information applications owing to their unique emission properties at room temperature. However, for practical reasons, single-photon sources should be pumped electrically, which is required for integrability, scalability, and energy efficiency. However, diamond and related wide-bandgap semiconductor materials are at the interface between insulators and semiconductors, which makes electrical excitation of color centers very challenging. Here, we report on our progress in the understanding of single-photon electroluminescence of color centers in diamond, discuss different factors affecting the brightness of these emitter under electrical excitation, and study how to improve the performance of electrically- pumped single-photon sources based on color centers in diamond.
The recently demonstrated electroluminescence of color centers in diamond makes them one of the best candidates for room temperature single-photon sources.However, the reported emission rates are far off what can be achieved by state-of-the-art electrically driven epitaxial quantum dots.Since the electroluminescence mechanism has not yet been elucidated, it is not clear to what extent the emission rate can be increased.Here we develop a theoretical framework to study single-photon emission from color centers in diamond under electrical pumping.The proposed model comprises electron and hole trapping and releasing, transitions between the ground and excited states of the color center as well as structural transformations of the center due to carrier trapping.It provides the possibility to predict both the photon emission rate and the wavelength of emitted photons.Self-consistent numerical simulations of the single-photon emitting diode based on the proposed model show that the photon emission rate can be as high as 100 kcounts s -1 at standard conditions.In contrast to most optoelectronic devices, the emission rate steadily increases with the device temperature achieving of more than 100 Mcount s -1 at 500 K, which is highly advantageous for practical applications.These results demonstrate the potential of color centers in diamond as electrically driven non-classical light emitters and provide a foundation for the design and development of single-photon sources for optical quantum computation and quantum communication networks operating at room and higher temperatures.
Operation at the single-photon level is beneficial for energy efficiency in optical and optoelectronic devices and opens new prospects for novel applications, ranging from quantum cryptography to quantum computations. In this regard, efficient single-photon sources operating upon electrical injection at room temperature are crucially important. Color centers in diamond are currently considered to be the best candidates capable of room temperature operation. These defects in the lattice structure have been studied intensively during the last two decades, and optically driven single-photon sources have been demonstrated. However, the possibility of operation upon electrical injection was not clear until recently mainly because diamond is a unique material at the interface between solid-state and semiconductor physics. The demonstrated photon emission rate under electrical pumping did not exceed a few tens of kcounts per second [1], which is several orders of magnitude lower than the emission rate of optically pumped centers [2] and is well below the level required for practical applications. Since the mechanism of electroluminescence of the color center in diamond was not known, it was not clear to what extent the single-photon emission rate upon electrical injection could be increased.
Light emission from color centers in diamond is being extensively investigated for developing, among other quantum devices, single-photon sources operating at room temperature. By doping diamond with phosphorus, one obtains an n-type semiconductor, which can be exploited for the electrical excitation of color centers. Here, we discuss the optical properties of color centers in phosphorus-doped diamond, especially the silicon-vacancy center, presenting the single-photon emission characteristics and the temperature dependence aiming for electroluminescent single-photon emitting devices.
Nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond are considered to be promising building blocks for emerging quantum technologies. At the same time, practical applications require them to be excited and controlled electrically. However, there is a lack of knowledge about their behavior in electrical driven systems. Here, we introduce a physical model to address the single-photon emission dynamics of electrically pumped NV center in diamond in a quantitative manner and present a detailed study of the single-photon emitting diode based on NV centers.
Emerging quantum information technologies require a source that emits single photons at predetermined times under electrical pumping. Color centers in diamond attract considerable attention as a room-temperature single-photon source. However, their electroluminescence has been shown only in steady-state and not on-demand. Here, we show how to control the single-photon electroluminescence (SPEL) of SiV centers in a proposed diamond diode and switch SiV center SPEL rate from 2 cps to 1 Mcps and vice versa in less than 3 ns. Our findings bring closer on-demand electrically-driven single-photon sources operating at room temperature.