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:2409.01857 · AVS Quantum Science

A low-temperature tunable microcavity featuring high passive stability and microwave integration

Yanik Herrmann, Julius Fischer, Stijn Scheijen, Cornelis F. J. Wolfs, Julia M. Brevoord, Colin Sauerzapf, Leonardo G. C. Wienhoven, Laurens J. Feije, Martin Eschen, Maximilian Ruf, Matthew J. Weaver, Ronald Hanson

Published Dec 1, 2024• 2 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Open microcavities offer great potential for the exploration and utilization of efficient spin-photon interfaces with Purcell-enhanced quantum emitters thanks to their large spectral and spatial tunability combined with high versatility of sample integration. However, a major challenge for this platform is the sensitivity to cavity length fluctuations in the cryogenic environment, which leads to cavity resonance frequency variations and thereby a lowered averaged Purcell enhancement. This work presents a closed-cycle cryogenic fiber-based microcavity setup, which is in particular designed for a low passive vibration level, while still providing large tunability and flexibility in fiber and sample integration, and high photon collection efficiency from the cavity mode. At temperatures below 10 K, a stability level of around 25 pm is reproducibly achieved in different setup configurations, including the extension with microwave control for manipulating the spin of cavity-coupled quantum emitters, enabling a bright photonic interface with optically active qubits.

DOI
10.1116/5.0233296

Related papers

A highly stable and fully tunable open microcavity platform at cryogenic temperatures

Maximilian Pallmann, Timon Eichhorn, Julia Benedikter +3 more

Open-access microcavities are a powerful tool to enhance light–matter interactions for solid-state quantum and nanosystems and are key to advance applications in quantum technologies. For this purpose, the cavities should simultaneously meet two conflicting requirements—full tunability to cope with spatial and spectral inhomogeneities of a material and highest stability under operation in a cryogenic environment to maintain resonance conditions. To tackle this challenge, we have developed a fully tunable, open-access, fiber-based Fabry–Pérot microcavity platform that can be operated under increased noise levels in a closed-cycle cryostat. It comprises custom-designed monolithic micro- and nanopositioning elements with up to mm-scale travel range that achieve a passive cavity length stability at low temperature of only 15 pm rms in a closed-cycle cryostat and 5 pm in a more quiet flow cryostat. This can be further improved by active stabilization, and even higher stability is obtained under direct mechanical contact between the cavity mirrors, yielding 0.8 pm rms during the quiet phase of the closed-cycle cryocooler. The platform provides the operation of cryogenic cavities with high finesse and small mode volume for strong enhancement of light–matter interactions, opening up novel possibilities for experiments with a great variety of quantum and nanomaterials.

APL Photonics•Mar 21, 2023•22 citations

A highly stable and fully tunable open microcavity platform at cryogenic temperatures

Maximilian Pallmann, Timon Eichhorn, Julia Benedikter +3 more

Open-access microcavities are a powerful tool to enhance light-matter interactions for solid-state quantum and nano systems and are key to advance applications in quantum technologies. For this purpose, the cavities should simultaneously meet two conflicting requirements - full tunability to cope with spatial and spectral inhomogeneities of a material, and highest stability under operation in a cryogenic environment to maintain resonance conditions. To tackle this challenge, we have developed a fully-tunable, open-access, fiber-based Fabry-Pérot microcavity platform which can be operated also under increased noise levels in a closed-cycle cryostat. It comprises custom-designed monolithic micro- and nanopositioning elements with up to mm-scale travel range that achieve a passive cavity length stability at low temperature of only 15 pm rms in a closed-cycle cryostat, and 5 pm in a more quiet flow cryostat. This can be further improved by active stabilization, and even higher stability is obtained under direct mechanical contact between the cavity mirrors, yielding 0:8 pm rms during the quiet phase of the closed-cycle cryo cooler. The platform provides operation of cryogenic cavities with high finesse and small mode volume for strong enhancement of light-matter interactions, opening up novel possibilities for experiments with a great variety of quantum and nano materials.

arXiv:2212.11601•Dec 22, 2022•0 citations

A Compact, Robust, and Tunable Open Microcavity Platform for Solid-State Quantum Electrodynamics

Thi D. Hoang, Fateme Mahdikhany, Zixuan Wang +4 more

Open microcavities provide a powerful platform for studying cavity quantum electrodynamics in solid-state systems. However, operating open microcavities at cryogenic temperatures, as required for many solid-state quantum emitters, typically demands bulky and cryostat-specific vibration-mitigation setups. Here we report a compact, robust, and tunable mechanical host for an open microcavity. The complete mechanical assembly fits within a footprint of $1'' \times 1'' \times 0.5''$. Using this mechanical host, we observe no vibration-induced cavity broadening for an open microcavity with finesse exceeding 1,000 without cryostat customization or active locking. The assembly also enables in situ tuning of the cavity resonance over 3 nm, and the resonance of the same cavity remains within this range across multiple cooldowns. To further showcase the capability of this assembly, we demonstrate coupling between an InGaAs quantum dot and an open microcavity with a cooperativity exceeding unity. This platform provides a versatile testbed for fundamental cavity quantum electrodynamics and a scalable route to portable quantum light sources and spin-photon interfaces for quantum repeaters, quantum networks, and photonic quantum computing.

quant-pharXiv:2605.16694•May 19, 2026

A fast-tunable and stable fiber microcavity for coupling Ba+ ions in quantum networks

Fang Ding, Chenghao Zhang, Weibin Chen +4 more

We present the design, implementation, and characterization of a high-stability, fast-tunable fiber Fabry-Pérot microcavity system optimized for coupling with Ba + ions to form quantum network nodes.The microcavity system integrates multiwavelength single-mode transmission, rapid and broad-band tunability, high finesse, and exceptional passive mechanical stability.By incorporating a unique vibration isolation structure, the system enables the fiber-optic microcavity (with a finesse of 8000) to remain resonant with the laser for several minutes even without active feedback.Furthermore, we demonstrate active cavity length stabilization using the Pound-Drever-Hall method, which significantly suppresses low-frequency vibrations and enables the cavity length to remain stable for several days.Experimental results show that this fiber microcavity system offers outstanding stability and flexibility for practical quantum network applications, providing reliable technical support for the construction of large-scale quantum networks based on trapped ions.

Chinese Optics Letters•Jan 1, 2025•2 citations

Coupling nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond to fiber-based Fabry-Pérot microcavities

Hanno Kaupp

This thesis investigates the coupling of the fluorescence of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond to tunable optical microresonators at ambient conditions, in particular in the regime of Purcell enhancement. We use fiber-based, open-access Fabry-Pérot cavities optimized for high finesse and ultra-small mode volume. Different regimes of cavity enhancement are studied that are complementary to each other: A first experiment relies on a high-finesse cavity with dielectric mirrors. The scaling laws of Purcell enhancement are explicitly demonstrated by a large-range variation of both the cavity mode volume (V = 16 − 600 µm^3 ) and the quality factor (Q = 6 · 10^3 − 2 · 10^6). We detect an enhancement of the emission spectral density by up to a factor of 300. The full potential of this resonator can be exploited with emitters having a linewidth which is narrower than the resonance linewidth of the cavity. This concept holds promise for the implementation of wavelength-tunable, narrow-band single-photon sources as well as the generation of indistinguishable single-photons at ambient conditions. However, for broad-band emitters like the NV center at room temperature, the emission lifetime is not affected noticeably in this configuration. In order to directly observe lifetime changes and Purcell-enhanced single-photon emission, we manufacture fiber-based cavities with silver-coated mirrors having ultra-small mode volumes, as small as V = 1.0 λ^3 = 0.34 µm^3. We demonstrate cavity-enhanced fluorescence imaging, which allows to locate and analyze several single NV centers with one cavity. The Purcell effect is evidenced by an enhanced fluorescence collection of up to 1.6 · 10^6 photons per second from single-NV centers and a tunable variation of the emission lifetime corresponding to an effective Purcell factor of up to 2. We furthermore investigate a benefcial regime of optical confinement where the Fabry-Pérot cavity mode is combined with additional mode confinement by the diamond nanocrystal itself, enabling sub-λ^3 mode volumes. We perform simulations that predict effective Purcell factors of up to 11 for NV centers and of up to 63 for silicon-vacancy centers, revealing a great potential for bright single-photon sources and effcient spin readout at ambient conditions.

•Jan 1, 2017•0 citations

Spin-photon correlations from a Purcell-enhanced diamond nitrogen-vacancy center coupled to an open microcavity

Julius Fischer, Yanik Herrmann, Cornelis F. J. Wolfs +3 more

An efficient interface between a spin qubit and single photons is a key enabling system for quantum science and technology. We report on a coherently controlled diamond nitrogen-vacancy center electron spin qubit that is optically interfaced with an open microcavity. Through Purcell enhancement and an asymmetric cavity design, we achieve efficient collection of resonant photons, while on-chip microwave lines allow for spin qubit control at a 10 MHz Rabi frequency. With the microcavity tuned to resonance with the nitrogen-vacancy center’s optical transition, we use excited state lifetime measurements to determine a Purcell factor of 7.3 ± 1.6. Upon pulsed resonant excitation, we find a coherent photon detection probability of 0.5% per pulse. Although this result is limited by the finite excitation probability, it already presents an order of magnitude improvement over the solid immersion lens devices used in previous quantum network demonstrations. Furthermore, we use resonant optical pulses to initialize and read out the electron spin. By combining the efficient interface with spin qubit control, we generate two-qubit and three-qubit spin-photon states and measure heralded Z-basis correlations between the photonic time-bin qubits and the spin qubit. Current applications of NV centers in diamond as spin-photon interfaces for quantum networks are limited by low coherent photon emission. Here, the authors integrate a coherently controlled NV spin qubit with an open microcavity to achieve Purcell-enhanced emission and demonstrate spin-photon state generation.

arXiv:2506.20722•Nature Communications•Nov 27, 2025•6 citations
Open microcavities offer great potential for the exploration and utilization of efficient spin-photon interfaces with Purcell-enhanced quantum emitters thanks to their large spectral and spatial tunability combined with high versatility of sample integration. However, a major challenge for this platform is the sensitivity to cavity length fluctuations in the cryogenic environment, which leads to cavity resonance frequency variations and thereby a lowered averaged Purcell enhancement. This work presents a closed-cycle cryogenic fiber-based microcavity setup, which is in particular designed for a low passive vibration level, while still providing large tunability and flexibility in fiber and sample integration, and high photon collection efficiency from the cavity mode. At temperatures below 10 K, a stability level of around 25 pm is reproducibly achieved in different setup configurations, including the extension with microwave control for manipulating the spin of cavity-coupled quantum emitters, enabling a bright photonic interface with optically active qubits.
Open-access microcavities are a powerful tool to enhance light–matter interactions for solid-state quantum and nanosystems and are key to advance applications in quantum technologies. For this purpose, the cavities should simultaneously meet two conflicting requirements—full tunability to cope with spatial and spectral inhomogeneities of a material and highest stability under operation in a cryogenic environment to maintain resonance conditions. To tackle this challenge, we have developed a fully tunable, open-access, fiber-based Fabry–Pérot microcavity platform that can be operated under increased noise levels in a closed-cycle cryostat. It comprises custom-designed monolithic micro- and nanopositioning elements with up to mm-scale travel range that achieve a passive cavity length stability at low temperature of only 15 pm rms in a closed-cycle cryostat and 5 pm in a more quiet flow cryostat. This can be further improved by active stabilization, and even higher stability is obtained under direct mechanical contact between the cavity mirrors, yielding 0.8 pm rms during the quiet phase of the closed-cycle cryocooler. The platform provides the operation of cryogenic cavities with high finesse and small mode volume for strong enhancement of light–matter interactions, opening up novel possibilities for experiments with a great variety of quantum and nanomaterials.
Open-access microcavities are a powerful tool to enhance light-matter interactions for solid-state quantum and nano systems and are key to advance applications in quantum technologies. For this purpose, the cavities should simultaneously meet two conflicting requirements - full tunability to cope with spatial and spectral inhomogeneities of a material, and highest stability under operation in a cryogenic environment to maintain resonance conditions. To tackle this challenge, we have developed a fully-tunable, open-access, fiber-based Fabry-Pérot microcavity platform which can be operated also under increased noise levels in a closed-cycle cryostat. It comprises custom-designed monolithic micro- and nanopositioning elements with up to mm-scale travel range that achieve a passive cavity length stability at low temperature of only 15 pm rms in a closed-cycle cryostat, and 5 pm in a more quiet flow cryostat. This can be further improved by active stabilization, and even higher stability is obtained under direct mechanical contact between the cavity mirrors, yielding 0:8 pm rms during the quiet phase of the closed-cycle cryo cooler. The platform provides operation of cryogenic cavities with high finesse and small mode volume for strong enhancement of light-matter interactions, opening up novel possibilities for experiments with a great variety of quantum and nano materials.
Open microcavities provide a powerful platform for studying cavity quantum electrodynamics in solid-state systems. However, operating open microcavities at cryogenic temperatures, as required for many solid-state quantum emitters, typically demands bulky and cryostat-specific vibration-mitigation setups. Here we report a compact, robust, and tunable mechanical host for an open microcavity. The complete mechanical assembly fits within a footprint of 1′′×1′′×0.5′′1'' \times 1'' \times 0.5''1′′×1′′×0.5′′. Using this mechanical host, we observe no vibration-induced cavity broadening for an open microcavity with finesse exceeding 1,000 without cryostat customization or active locking. The assembly also enables in situ tuning of the cavity resonance over 3 nm, and the resonance of the same cavity remains within this range across multiple cooldowns. To further showcase the capability of this assembly, we demonstrate coupling between an InGaAs quantum dot and an open microcavity with a cooperativity exceeding unity. This platform provides a versatile testbed for fundamental cavity quantum electrodynamics and a scalable route to portable quantum light sources and spin-photon interfaces for quantum repeaters, quantum networks, and photonic quantum computing.
We present the design, implementation, and characterization of a high-stability, fast-tunable fiber Fabry-Pérot microcavity system optimized for coupling with Ba + ions to form quantum network nodes.The microcavity system integrates multiwavelength single-mode transmission, rapid and broad-band tunability, high finesse, and exceptional passive mechanical stability.By incorporating a unique vibration isolation structure, the system enables the fiber-optic microcavity (with a finesse of 8000) to remain resonant with the laser for several minutes even without active feedback.Furthermore, we demonstrate active cavity length stabilization using the Pound-Drever-Hall method, which significantly suppresses low-frequency vibrations and enables the cavity length to remain stable for several days.Experimental results show that this fiber microcavity system offers outstanding stability and flexibility for practical quantum network applications, providing reliable technical support for the construction of large-scale quantum networks based on trapped ions.
This thesis investigates the coupling of the fluorescence of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond to tunable optical microresonators at ambient conditions, in particular in the regime of Purcell enhancement. We use fiber-based, open-access Fabry-Pérot cavities optimized for high finesse and ultra-small mode volume. Different regimes of cavity enhancement are studied that are complementary to each other: A first experiment relies on a high-finesse cavity with dielectric mirrors. The scaling laws of Purcell enhancement are explicitly demonstrated by a large-range variation of both the cavity mode volume (V = 16 − 600 µm^3 ) and the quality factor (Q = 6 · 10^3 − 2 · 10^6). We detect an enhancement of the emission spectral density by up to a factor of 300. The full potential of this resonator can be exploited with emitters having a linewidth which is narrower than the resonance linewidth of the cavity. This concept holds promise for the implementation of wavelength-tunable, narrow-band single-photon sources as well as the generation of indistinguishable single-photons at ambient conditions. However, for broad-band emitters like the NV center at room temperature, the emission lifetime is not affected noticeably in this configuration. In order to directly observe lifetime changes and Purcell-enhanced single-photon emission, we manufacture fiber-based cavities with silver-coated mirrors having ultra-small mode volumes, as small as V = 1.0 λ^3 = 0.34 µm^3. We demonstrate cavity-enhanced fluorescence imaging, which allows to locate and analyze several single NV centers with one cavity. The Purcell effect is evidenced by an enhanced fluorescence collection of up to 1.6 · 10^6 photons per second from single-NV centers and a tunable variation of the emission lifetime corresponding to an effective Purcell factor of up to 2. We furthermore investigate a benefcial regime of optical confinement where the Fabry-Pérot cavity mode is combined with additional mode confinement by the diamond nanocrystal itself, enabling sub-λ^3 mode volumes. We perform simulations that predict effective Purcell factors of up to 11 for NV centers and of up to 63 for silicon-vacancy centers, revealing a great potential for bright single-photon sources and effcient spin readout at ambient conditions.
An efficient interface between a spin qubit and single photons is a key enabling system for quantum science and technology. We report on a coherently controlled diamond nitrogen-vacancy center electron spin qubit that is optically interfaced with an open microcavity. Through Purcell enhancement and an asymmetric cavity design, we achieve efficient collection of resonant photons, while on-chip microwave lines allow for spin qubit control at a 10 MHz Rabi frequency. With the microcavity tuned to resonance with the nitrogen-vacancy center’s optical transition, we use excited state lifetime measurements to determine a Purcell factor of 7.3 ± 1.6. Upon pulsed resonant excitation, we find a coherent photon detection probability of 0.5% per pulse. Although this result is limited by the finite excitation probability, it already presents an order of magnitude improvement over the solid immersion lens devices used in previous quantum network demonstrations. Furthermore, we use resonant optical pulses to initialize and read out the electron spin. By combining the efficient interface with spin qubit control, we generate two-qubit and three-qubit spin-photon states and measure heralded Z-basis correlations between the photonic time-bin qubits and the spin qubit. Current applications of NV centers in diamond as spin-photon interfaces for quantum networks are limited by low coherent photon emission. Here, the authors integrate a coherently controlled NV spin qubit with an open microcavity to achieve Purcell-enhanced emission and demonstrate spin-photon state generation.