Physical Review Applied
Enhancing N - V − -center coherent emission using the weak-coupling regime of a hybrid metal-dielectric architecture
Nitesh Singh, Drisha Sehgal, Ananth Venkatesan, Rajesh V. Nair
Abstract
Negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy ($\mathrm{N}\text{\ensuremath{-}}$${V}^{\ensuremath{-}}$) centers in diamonds have rapidly developed due to their exceptional quantum optical and spin properties at room temperature. However, their applicability is limited by broad phonon-sideband emission with feeble coherent emission at the zero-phonon line (ZPL). This calls for the exploration of photonic cavities to enhance ZPL emission. We propose an easy-to-fabricate hybrid metal-dielectric nanocavity with low mode volume to enhance ZPL emission while suppressing phononic emission channels due to different $\mathrm{N}\text{\ensuremath{-}}$V charge states. We find a 400% enhancement in the emission rate and outcoupling of emitted light at the ZPL with better directivity by deterministic positioning of the $\mathrm{N}\text{\ensuremath{-}}$${V}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ inside the nanocavity, corroborated by numerical simulations. The pump-dependent measurements confirm better emission saturation intensity for the cavity-coupled $\mathrm{N}\text{\ensuremath{-}}$${V}^{\ensuremath{-}}$s. The proposed tunable nanocavity structure can be applied to a broad range of quantum emitters to control their emission so that their use in quantum technologies could be improved.