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arXiv:1710.03742 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Feasibility of efficient room-temperature solid-state sources of indistinguishable single photons using ultrasmall mode volume cavities

Stephen C. Wein, Nikolai Lauk, Roohollah Ghobadi, Christoph Simon

Published May 14, 2018• 43 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Highly efficient sources of indistinguishable single photons that can operate at room temperature would be very beneficial for many applications in quantum technology. We show that the implementation of such sources is a realistic goal using solid-state emitters and ultrasmall mode volume cavities. We derive and analyze an expression for photon indistinguishability that accounts for relevant detrimental effects, such as plasmon-induced quenching and pure dephasing. We then provide the general cavity and emitter conditions required to achieve efficient indistinguishable photon emission and also discuss constraints due to phonon sideband emission. Using these conditions, we propose that a nanodiamond negatively charged silicon-vacancy center combined with a plasmonic-Fabry-P\'erot hybrid cavity is an excellent candidate system.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.97.205418

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Highly efficient sources of indistinguishable single photons that can operate at room temperature would be very beneficial for many applications in quantum technology. We show that the implementation of such sources is a realistic goal using solid-state emitters and ultrasmall mode volume cavities. We derive and analyze an expression for photon indistinguishability that accounts for relevant detrimental effects, such as plasmon-induced quenching and pure dephasing. We then provide the general cavity and emitter conditions required to achieve efficient indistinguishable photon emission and also discuss constraints due to phonon sideband emission. Using these conditions, we propose that a nanodiamond negatively charged silicon-vacancy center combined with a plasmonic-Fabry-P'erot hybrid cavity is an excellent candidate system.
Solid-state atomlike systems have great promise for linear optic quantum computing and quantum communication but are burdened by phonon sidebands and broadening due to surface charges. Nevertheless, coupling to a small-mode-volume cavity would allow high rates of extraction from even highly dephased emitters. We consider the nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond, a system understood to have a poor quantum optics interface with highly distinguishable photons, and design a silicon nitride cavity that allows 99% efficient extraction of photons at 200 K with an indistinguishability of >>> 50%, improvable by external filtering. We analyze our design using Lumerical fdtd simulations and treat optical emission using a cavity-QED master equation valid at and beyond strong coupling and that includes both zero-phonon line broadening and sideband emission. The simulated design is compact ($<10\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$) and, owing to its planar geometry, can be fabricated using standard silicon processes. Our work therefore points toward scalable fabrication of noncryogenic atomlike efficient sources of indistinguishable photons.
Solid-state emitters are excellent candidates for developing integrated sources of single photons. Yet, phonons degrade the photon indistinguishability both through pure dephasing of the zero-phonon line and through phonon-assisted emission. Here, we study theoretically and experimentally the indistinguishability of photons emitted by a semiconductor quantum dot in a microcavity as a function of temperature. We show that a large coupling to a high quality factor cavity can simultaneously reduce the effect of both phonon-induced sources of decoherence. It first limits the effect of pure dephasing on the zero-phonon line with indistinguishabilities above 97% up to 18 K. Moreover, it efficiently redirects the phonon sidebands into the zero-phonon line and brings the indistinguishability of the full emission spectrum from 87% (24%) without cavity effect to more than 99% (76%) at 0K (20K). We provide guidelines for optimal cavity designs that further minimize the phonon-induced decoherence.
The generation of indistinguishable photons is a key requirement for solid-state quantum emitters as a viable source for applications in quantum technologies. Restricting the dimensions of the solid-state host to a size well below the wavelength of light emitted by a defect-center enables efficient external optical coupling, for example for hybrid integration into photonic devices. However, stringent restrictions on the host dimensions result in severe limitations on the spectral properties reducing the indistinguishability of emitted photons. Here, we demonstrate two-photon interference from two negatively-charged Silicon-Vacancy centers located in remote nanodiamonds. The Hong-Ou-Mandel interference efficiency reaches 61% with a coalescence time window of 0.35 ns. We furthermore show a high yield of pairs of Silicon-Vacancy centers with indistinguishable optical transitions. Therefore, our work opens new paths in hybrid quantum technology based on indistinguishable single-photon emitters in nanodiamonds.
Recently, Grange et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 193601 (2015)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.114.193601] showed the possibility of single-photon generation with a high indistinguishability from a quantum emitter despite strong pure dephasing, by "funneling" emission into a photonic cavity. Here, we show that a cascaded two-cavity system can further improve the photon characteristics and greatly reduce the Q factor requirement to levels achievable with present-day technology. Our approach leverages recent advances in nanocavities with an ultrasmall mode volume and does not require ultrafast excitation of the emitter. These results were obtained by numerical and closed-form analytical models with strong emitter dephasing, representing room-temperature quantum emitters.
Single photons are the key ingredient for many photonic quantum technologies including quantum key distribution and measurement-based quantum computing. However, it remains difficult to create devices with the appropriate specifications for use in non-laboratory environments. The optical microcavity platform provides an attractive route towards a room temperature single photon source device. Our ultra-small focused ion beam (FIB) milled open-access cavities offer enhancement of the spontaneous emission rate, tunability of the emission spectrum and increased light collection. The embedment of solid-state emitters within these cavities enables us to create a robust room temperature single photon source device, with the potential for high efficiencies and single photon purities. Defects such as the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centre in diamond have been shown to be stable room-temperature sources of single photons. There are new single emitters emerging in two-dimensional materials such as hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). Here we present developments in room-temperature coupling of single defects to open-access microcavities of a planar-hemispherical geometry with mode volumes down to λ3. We report enhancements in the spectral density of photons into a single cavity mode, combined with improved single photon purities. It will be shown that the NV-cavity system provides a ~3% single photon emission efficiency with purities of up to 94%. The hBN-cavity system provides count rates >1Mcts/s into a single cavity mode with purities up to 96%. With these high single photon purities, such devices would be robust against photon number splitting attacks making them attractive for applications in quantum cryptography.