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IEEE Photonics Conference

All-silicon quantum light source by embedding a single color center in a nanophotonic cavity

Wayesh Qarony, Walid Redjem, Yertay Zhiyenbayev, Vsevolod Ivanov, Christos Papapanos, Wei Liu, Kaushalya Jhuria, Zakaria Y. Al Balushi, Scott D. Dhuey, Adam M. Schwartzberg, Liang Zheng Tan, Thomas Schenkel, Boubacar Kanté

Published Nov 12, 2023• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present the first all-silicon quantum light source by integrating a silicon-based single color center within a silicon nanophotonic cavity. This approach results in a remarkable 30-fold increase in luminescence and an 8-fold emission acceleration, enabling scalable quantum technologies for communication, sensing, imaging, and computing.

DOI
10.1109/ipc57732.2023.10360655

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We present the first all-silicon quantum light source by integrating a silicon-based single color center within a silicon nanophotonic cavity. This approach results in a remarkable 30-fold increase in luminescence and an 8-fold emission acceleration, enabling scalable quantum technologies for communication, sensing, imaging, and computing.
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Monolithic integration of single-photon sources into silicon photonics offers a compelling solution for realizing scalable quantum telecommunication architectures. Among the candidate silicon color centers, the C-center features a zero-phonon emission in the telecom L-band, corresponding to the spectral window of minimum transmission loss in optical fibers. Despite this advantage, isolating single C-centers has remained an unrealized challenge in solid-state quantum optics. In this work, we report the isolation of a single silicon C-center. We enhance the spontaneous emission rate of the zero-phonon line by coupling the single emitter to a nanophotonic crystal cavity, observing a fivefold reduction in the excited-state lifetime compared to bulk conditions, which corresponds to a Purcell factor lower bound of 33. Second-order autocorrelation measurements confirm single-photon emission from the investigated defect, obtaining an optical purity of g(2)(0)=0.23g^{(2)}(0) = 0.23g(2)(0)=0.23 without background correction. Our results establish a native telecom L-band quantum light source in silicon, laying the foundation for ultra-low-loss and long-distance quantum applications.
Silicon G centers show significant promise as single photon sources in a scalable silicon platform. But these color centers have large nonradiative decay and a low Debye-Waller factor, limiting their usability in quantum applications. In this work, we demonstrate bright Purcell-enhanced emission from a silicon G center by coupling it to a nanophotonic cavity. The nanobeam cavity enhances the spontaneous emission rate of a single G center by a factor of 6, corresponding to a Purcell factor greater than 31 when accounting for decay into the phonon sideband. We obtain a spontaneous emission rate of 0.97 ns, which is the fastest single photon emission rate reported in silicon. With this radiative enhancement, we achieve an order of magnitude improvement in emitter brightness compared to previously reported values. These results pave the way for scalable quantum light sources on a silicon photonic chip.