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Journal de Physique IV (Proceedings)

Diamond-based single-photon emission in the near infrared

E Wu, V. Jacques, François Treussart, Heping Zeng, Philippe Grangier, Jean-François Roch

Published Oct 1, 2006• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report on the observation of optically active colour centres based on Nickel-Nitrogen impurities in natural diamond samples. These emitters can efficiently generate single photons in the near infrared. Their photoluminescence is perfectly stable at room temperature and has several striking features, such as a narrow band emission around 780 nm and a short photon emission lifetime around 2 ns. We present a detailed study of their photophysical properties measured under continuous-wave excitation.

DOI
10.1051/jp4:2006135037

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•Jan 1, 2009•0 citations
We report on the observation of optically active colour centres based on Nickel-Nitrogen impurities in natural diamond samples. These emitters can efficiently generate single photons in the near infrared. Their photoluminescence is perfectly stable at room temperature and has several striking features, such as a narrow band emission around 780 nm and a short photon emission lifetime around 2 ns. We present a detailed study of their photophysical properties measured under continuous-wave excitation.
We present a detailed study of photophysical properties of single color centers in natural diamond samples emitting in the near infrared under optical excitation. Photoluminescence of these single emitters has several striking features, including narrow-band (FWHM 2 nm) fully polarized emission around 780 nm, a short excited-state lifetime of about 2 ns, and perfect photostability at room temperature under our excitation conditions. Development of a triggered single-photon source relying on this single color center is discussed for application to quantum key distribution.
We report the realization of a solid-state triggered single-photon source with narrow emission in the near infrared at room temperature. It is based on the photoluminescence of a single nickel–nitrogen NE8 colour centre in a chemical vapour deposited diamond nanocrystal. Stable single-photon emission has been observed in the photoluminescence under both continuous-wave and pulsed excitations. The realization of this source represents a step forward in the application of diamond-based single-photon sources to quantum key distribution (QKD) under practical operating conditions.
Owing to their unsurpassed photostability, defects in solids may be ideal candidates for single-photon sources. Here we report on generation of single photons by optical excitation of a yet unexplored defect in diamond, the nickel–nitrogen complex (NE8) centre. The most striking feature of the defect is its emission bandwidth of 1.2 nm at room temperature. The emission wavelength of the defect is around 800 nm, which is suitable for telecom fibres. In addition, in this spectral region little background light from the diamond bulk material is detected. Consequently, a high contrast in antibunching measurements is achieved.
Single-photon sources are a fundamental element for developing quantum technologies, and sources based on colour centres in diamonds are among the most promising candidates. The well-known nitrogen vacancy centres are characterized by several limitations, and thus few other defects have recently been considered. In the present work, we characterize, in detail, native efficient single colour centres emitting in the near infra-red ( λ = 740–780 nm) in both standard IIa single-crystal and electronic-grade polycrystalline commercial chemical vapour deposited (CVD) diamond samples. In the former case, a high-temperature ( T > 1000 °C) annealing process in vacuum is necessary to induce the formation/activation of luminescent centres with good emission properties, while in the latter case the annealing process has marginally beneficial effects on the number and performance of native centres in commercially available samples. Although displaying significant variability in several photo-physical properties (emission wavelength, emission rate instabilities, saturation behaviours), these centres generally display appealing photophysical properties for applications as single photon sources: short lifetimes (0.7–3 ns), high emission rates (∼50–500 × 10 3 photons s −1 ) and strongly (>95%) polarized light. The native centres are tentatively attributed to impurities incorporated in the diamond crystal during the CVD growth of high-quality type-IIa samples, and offer promising perspectives in diamond-based photonics.
Quantum communication and quantum metrology established a demand for an accessible solid state systems which can generate a stream of single photons on demand [1]. Although single photon emission has been demonstrated from quantum dots (QD)[1,2], single molecules [3] and nanowires [4], their practical operation is limited by the temperature or photostability. Diamond crystals, however, are the most promising platform for generation of robust, photo-stable, single photons at room temperature [5,6]. Nevertheless, out of more than 500 existing optical centers in diamond only three known centers demonstrated a clear single photon emission: the nitrogen-vacancy complex [6,7], the silicon-vacancy complex [8] and the nickel-nitrogen complex [9,10]. Recent progress in materials science and fabrication techniques of diamond color centers unveiled novel quantum emitters with photo-physical properties surpassing the current mainstream [11,12,13]. Consequently, the versatility of the diamond lattice to host various impurities which give luminescence signals lead to a dramatic discovery of ultra bright single photon emitters operating in the MHz regime [14]. These new centers, comparable with QD in terms of brightness [1], but have the tremendous advantage of their room temperature operation and photo-stability. Furthermore, it opened a new avenue to investigate essentially an unknown group of single photon emitters. A brief description of the fabrication methods and a detailed quantum optical characterization of this class of diamond emitters is the subject of this presentation. In particular we will present the photo-physical properties of a novel family of single photon emitters, most likely originated from Cr impurities within the chemical vapor deposition grown nano-diamond crystals. We concentrate on the typical emission lines in the range of 740 - 790 nm, which exhibit single photon emission with count rate in the range of 0.8-3.2 106 counts/s at the limit of infinite optical excitation power, and life time as short as 1 ns. Even more, some of the emitters exhibit a photon statistics without any photon bunching, indicating a two-level system with unitary quantum efficiency. We will also show preliminary results of a resonant excitation at 4 K. We will highlight future directions to optimize these sources and avenues to investigate the fundamental properties of these centers.