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arXiv:2005.13478 · Physical Review Applied

Nitrogen-Vacancy Center Coupled to an Ultrasmall-Mode-Volume Cavity: A High-Efficiency Source of Indistinguishable Photons at 200 K

Joe A. Smith, Chloe Clear, Krishna C. Balram, Dara P. S. McCutcheon, John Rarity

Published Mar 10, 2021• 14 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

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.

DOI
10.1103/physrevapplied.15.034029

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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\ensuremathμm<10\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}<10\ensuremathμm) 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.
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.
A key requirement for many applications in solid-state quantum sciences is a high fluence of indistinguishable photons. The spontaneous emission of these photons is governed by the coupling of an excited quantum system to electromagnetic vacuum fluctuations. In our experiment, we enhance this coupling by engineering a tunable Fabry-Perot microcavity. The quantum system we study is the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond, a workhorse for quantum science and engineering, due to its optical transitions and the coherent electron spin system it hosts. Our device consists of a high-quality, nano-fabricated, single-crystalline diamond membrane bonded to a planar mirror; the cavity is completed by a second, concave mirror. Using piezo positioners, we achieve full spectral and spatial tunability and freedom in selecting NVs with favorable emission properties in our low-temperature (4 Kelvin) experiments. Upon tuning of the cavity into resonance, we find significant enhancement of the 637 nm zero phonon line for several individual NVs which is accompanied by a strong reduction of the overall photoluminescence (PL) lifetime. We infer a 30-fold enhancement of the zero-phonon transition rate at best. The fraction of the PL emission associated to this resonant transition is thereby increased from 3% to 46%. Our results constitute a significant leap on the route towards the implementation of fast long-distance quantum networks, which are currently limited by the photon emission rate in their nodes. Furthermore, our versatile design is readily applicable to other solid-state quantum emitters like color centers in silicon carbide.
The Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) centre in diamond possesses an optical read out of its spin state and shows great promise for applications in solid state quantum technologies. Its broad phonon assisted emission spectrum, with only 4% of emission from the zero-phonon line, is a major drawback to this. The optical microcavity will be essential in efficiently interfacing these centres with photonic networks. Here we present investigations into the coupling of NV centres in nanodiamond to tunable open-microcavities, both at room temperature and at cryogenic temperatures. These structures will be shown to achieve good photon confinement, with mode volumes down to 5λ3. Room temperature studies on ensembles of NVs will illustrate the tunable spectral and spatial overlap between the emitter and the cavity mode. It will be shown that small enhancements are possible in this regime. After the preparation and characterisation of single emitters, low temperature coupling to the narrowed zero-phonon line will be the central theme of this thesis. Single photon emission into the cavity mode is verified. We observe the enhancement of the light-matter interaction in this regime, by a 39% increase in the emission rate when cavity-coupled, with the dependence on mode volume also demonstrated. These results are important for the realisation of a spin-photon interface in scalable quantum networks.
The realisation of an efficient spin-photon interface using the negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy centre (NV-) in diamond requires the resonant coupling of the zero phonon line (ZPL) of the centre to an optical microcavity [1]. The cavity serves to encourage emission into the ZPL in preference to the phonon sidebands, and potentially also to increase the homogeneous linewidth via a reduction of the lifetime (the Purcell effect) thus assisting in the generation of indistinguishable photons. Cavity coupling thus has potential to improve by orders of magnitude the speed with which entanglement can be created between spatially remote NV- centres [2], and to enable other mechanisms for realising spin-photon interfaces via non-demolition measurements [3].
The Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) centre in diamond possesses an optical read out of its spin state and shows great promise for applications in solid state quantum technologies. Its broad phonon assisted emission spectrum, with only 4p of emission from the zero-phonon line, is a major drawback to this. The optical microcavity will be essential in efficiently interfacing these centres with photonic networks. Here we present investigations into the coupling of NV centres in nanodiamond to tunable open-microcavities, both at room temperature and at cryogenic temperatures. These structures will be shown to achieve good photon confinement, with mode volumes down to 5λ3. Room temperature studies on ensembles of NVs will illustrate the tunable spectral and spatial overlap between the emitter and the cavity mode. It will be shown that small enhancements are possible in this regime. After the preparation and characterisation of single emitters, low temperature coupling to the narrowed zero-phonon line will be the central theme of this thesis. Single photon emission into the cavity mode is verified. We observe the enhancement of the light-matter interaction in this regime, by a 39p increase in the emission rate when cavity-coupled, with the dependence on mode volume also demonstrated. These results are important for the realisation of a spin-photon interface in scalable quantum networks.
Quantum communication places stringent requirements on single-photon sources. Here we report a theoretical study of the cavity Purcell enhancement of two diamond point defects, the nickel-nitrogen (NE8) and silicon-vacancy (SiV) centers, for high-performance, near on-demand single-photon generation. By coupling the centers strongly to high-finesse optical photonic-band-gap cavities with modest quality factor Q=O(104)Q=O({10}^{4})Q=O(104) and small mode volume $V=O({\ensuremath{\lambda}}^{3})$, these system can deliver picosecond single-photon pulses at their zero-phonon lines with probabilities of 0.954 (NE8) and 0.812 (SiV) under a realistic optical excitation scheme. The undesirable blinking effect due to transitions via metastable states can also be suppressed with $O({10}^{\ensuremath{-}4})$ blinking probability. We analyze the application of these enhanced centers, including the previously studied cavity-enhanced nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center, to long-distance Bennett-Brassard 1984 protocol quantum key distribution (QKD) in fiber-based, open-air terrestrial and satellite-ground setups. In this comparative study, we show that they can deliver performance comparable with decoy state implementation with weak coherent sources, and are most suitable for open-air communication.