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arXiv:1805.12227 · Physical Review Letters

Coherent Control and Wave Mixing in an Ensemble of Silicon-Vacancy Centers in Diamond

Christian Weinzetl, Johannes Görlitz, Jonas N. Becker, Ian A. Walmsley, Eilon Poem, Joshua Nunn, Christoph Becher

Published Feb 12, 2019• 40 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Strong light-matter interactions are critical for quantum technologies based on light, such as memories or nonlinear interactions. Solid state materials will be particularly important for such applications due to the relative ease of fabrication of components. Silicon vacancy centers (SiV^{-}) in diamond feature especially narrow inhomogeneous spectral lines, which are rare in solid materials. Here, we demonstrate resonant coherent manipulation, stimulated Raman adiabatic passage, and strong light-matter interaction via the four-wave mixing of a weak signal field in an ensemble of SiV^{-} centers.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.122.063601

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•Jan 1, 2018•0 citations
Strong light-matter interactions are critical for quantum technologies based on light, such as memories or nonlinear interactions. Solid state materials will be particularly important for such applications due to the relative ease of fabrication of components. Silicon vacancy centers (SiV^{-}) in diamond feature especially narrow inhomogeneous spectral lines, which are rare in solid materials. Here, we demonstrate resonant coherent manipulation, stimulated Raman adiabatic passage, and strong light-matter interaction via the four-wave mixing of a weak signal field in an ensemble of SiV^{-} centers.
Arrays of identical and individually addressable qubits lay the foundation for the creation of scalable quantum hardware such as quantum processors and repeaters. Silicon vacancy centers in diamond (SiV) offer excellent physical properties such as low inhomogeneous broadening, fast photon emission, and a large Debye-Waller factor, while the possibility for all-optical ultrafast manipulation and techniques to extend the spin coherence times make them very promising candidates for qubits. Here, we have developed arrays of nanopillars containing single SiV centers with high yield, and we demonstrate ultrafast all-optical complete coherent control of the state of a single SiV center. The high quality of the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) grown SiV centers provides excellent spectral stability, which allows us to coherently manipulate and quasi-resonantly read out the state of individual SiV centers on picosecond timescales using ultrafast optical pulses. This work opens new opportunities towards the creation of a scalable on-chip diamond platform for quantum information processing and scalable nanophotonics applications.
Arrays of identical and individually addressable qubits lay the foundation for the creation of scalable quantum hardware such as quantum processors and repeaters. Silicon-vacancy (SiV) centers in diamond offer excellent physical properties such as low inhomogeneous broadening, fast photon emission, and a large Debye–Waller factor. The possibility for all-optical ultrafast manipulation and techniques to extend the spin coherence times makes them promising candidates for qubits. Here, we have developed arrays of nanopillars containing single (SiV) centers with high yield, and we demonstrate ultrafast all-optical complete coherent control of the excited state population of a single SiV center at the optical transition frequency. The high quality of the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) grown SiV centers provides excellent spectral stability, which allows us to coherently manipulate and quasi-resonantly read out the excited state population of individual SiV centers on picosecond timescales using ultrafast optical pulses. Furthermore, this work opens new opportunities to create a scalable on-chip diamond platform for quantum information processing and scalable nanophotonics applications.
Vacancy centers in diamond have proven to be a viable solid-state platform for quantum-coherent optoelectronic applications. Among the variety of vacancy centers, silicon-vacancy (SiV) centers have recently attracted much attention as an inversion-symmetric system that is less susceptible to electron-phonon interactions. Nevertheless, phonon-mediated processes still degrade the coherent properties of SiV centers; however, characterizing their electron-phonon coupling is extremely challenging due to their weak spectroscopic signatures and remains an open experimental problem. In this paper we theoretically investigate signatures of electron-phonon coupling in simulated linear and nonlinear spectra of SiV centers. We demonstrate how even extremely weak electron-phonon interactions, such as in SiV centers, may be completely characterized via nonlinear spectroscopic techniques and even resolved between different fine-structure transitions.
Color centers in diamond are point defects within the diamond host lattice that absorb and emit light at optical frequencies. Besides contributing to the striking visual characteristics of "fancy colored" diamonds as gemstones, the centers--particularly the negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center and silicon-vacancy (SiV-) center--offer a number of possibilities for quantum computation and quantum information processing. In this talk, I will summarize recent progress made in characterizing negatively charged silicon-vacancy centers in diamond using the technique of optical multidimensional coherent spectroscopy (MDCS). By comparing photoluminescence-based and heterodyne-detection based signal collection schemes in a high-density SiV- center sample, we have selectively identified a population of long-lived and nonradiative silicon-vacancy centers in diamond with more than 40 times as much inhomogeneous spectral broadening as the radiative silicon-vacancy center states that are more commonly observed using photoluminescence. Estimates of the degree of inhomogeneity and overall sample characteristics indicate that strain is likely to play a large role in the formation of these nonradiative states. The findings open possibilities for being able to actively tune the degree of radiative coupling in silicon-vacancy center systems, opening possibilities for new types of quantum-optical devices.
Atomic‐scale impurity spins, also called color centers, in an otherwise spin‐free diamond host lattice have proven to be versatile tools for applications in solid‐state‐based quantum technologies ranging from quantum information processing (QIP) to quantum‐enhanced sensing and metrology. Due to its wide band gap, diamond can host hundreds of different color centers. However, their suitability for QIP or sensing applications has only been tested for a handful of these, with the nitrogen vacancy (NV) strongly dominating this field of research. Due to its limited optical properties, the success of the NV for QIP applications however strongly depends on the development of efficient photonic interfaces. In the past years the negatively charged silicon vacancy (SiV−) center received significant attention due to its highly favourable spectral properties such as narrow zero phonon line transitions and weak phonon sidebands. Here, the recent work investigating the SiV center's orbital and electron spin coherence properties is reviewed as well as techniques to coherently control its quantum state using microwave as well as optical fields. Also, potential future experimental directions to improve the SiV's coherence time scale and to develop it into a valuable tool for QIP applications are outlined.
Quantum memories are a key technology enabling arbitrarily-scalable optical quantum information processing architectures via active synchronisation and multiplexing of quantum information. Optically active confined impurities, called colour centres, in a spin-free and highly transparent diamond host material are promising systems to realise such devices in the solid-state, suitable for integration in a scalable guided-wave on-chip photonic platform. In this thesis, the transition from optical Raman quantum memories in atomic vapours to solid-state systems is prepared, exploring two diamond-based systems: On the basis of ensembles of neutrally charged nitrogen vacancy centres, desirable properties and criteria of solid-state systems used for optical quantum memories are developed. These include non-vanishing off-resonant Raman coupling, variable acceptance bandwidth for broadband pulses and cross-linear polarised optical transitions to prevent the generation of noise during the Raman memory protocol, which have been realised experimentally by applying external uniaxial stress to the system. However, attempts to measure the very short orbital ground state lifetime affirmed unfavourable theoretical estimations, rendering this centre unsuitable for memory applications. As a potential alternative, the negatively charged silicon vacancy centre has been investigated, which offers a large ground state splitting with extended life and coherence times and narrow inhomogeneous spectral lines due to its inversion symmetry. In an ensemble of silicon vacancy centres, the ground state lifetime is measured and coherent manipulation via resonant Ramsey interference and Hahn echo is demonstrated. In a second step, off-resonant two-photon transitions are achieved implementing stimulated Raman adiabatic passage between the orbital ground states. Finally, strong light-matter interaction of a weak signal field with the ensemble via phase-sensitive four-wave mixing is shown forming the basis for integrated Raman-based memories and single photon nonlinearities in ensembles of silicon vacancy centres and closely related defects.