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

High Contrast Metastructures

Scalable deterministic and probabilistic quantum light sources in silicon

Boubacar Kanté

Published Mar 19, 2025• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Single photon sources play a fundamental role in quantum science and engineering. In the first part of the talk, I will present a deterministic quantum light source in silicon based on single emissive centers that emit in the telecom band [1]. In the second part of the talk, I will discuss a probabilistic source based on an interpretable inverse design cavity enhancing the efficiency of on-chip photon pair generation rate through nonlinear processes [2]. I will also discuss how topological disorder can enhance non-linearities on chip [3]. References. 1- W. Redjem*, Y. Zhiyenbayev*, W. Qarony* et al., “All-silicon quantum light source by embedding an atomic emissive center in a nanophotonic cavity,” Nat Commun 14, 3321 (2023). 2- Z. Jia, W. Qarony, J. Park, S. Hooten, D. Wen, Y. Zhiyenbayev, M. Seclì, W. Redjem, S. Dhuey, A. Schwartzberg, E. Yablonovitch, and B. Kanté, “Interpretable inverse-designed cavity for on-chip nonlinear photon pair generation,” Optica 10, 1529-1534 (2023). 3- Z. Jia, M. Seclì, A. Avdoshkin et al., “Disordered topological graphs enhancing nonlinear phenomena,” Sci. Adv. 9, 14 (2023).

DOI
10.1117/12.3054217

Related papers

Scalable deterministic and probabilistic quantum light sources in silicon

Boubacar Kanté

Single photon sources play a fundamental role in quantum science and engineering. In the first part of the talk a will present a deterministic quantum light source in silicon based on single emissive centers that emit in the telecom band [1]. In the second part of the talk, I will discuss a probabilistic source based on an interpretable inverse design cavity enhancing the efficiency of on-chip photon pair generation rate through nonlinear processes [2]. I will also discuss how topological disorder can enhance non-linearities on chip [3].

Active Photonic Platforms (APP)•Oct 2, 2024•0 citations

All-silicon quantum light source by embedding an atomic emissive center in a nanophotonic cavity

Yertay Zhiyenbayev, Walid Redjem, Wayesh Qarony +10 more

Quantum optics in silicon is promising. We report the first all-silicon quantum light source, with a single atomic center embedded in a nanophotonic cavity, resulting in enhanced light-matter interaction.

•Jan 1, 2023•2 citations

Cavity quantum electrodynamics with silicon color centers : from ensembles to a single photon source

Baptiste Lefaucher

Photons are excellent carriers of quantum information. The generation, manipulation and read-out of photonic quantum states have enabled pioneering investigations in quantum physics, paving the way to groundbreaking technologies. Integrated quantum photonics, that is the processing of photons on-chip, is at the forefront of this revolution. In particular, silicon integrated circuits have emerged as the dominant material platform for large-scale quantum photonics. However, the difficulty to inject single photons on-demand in a silicon chip is a major obstacle to the level of complexity of current systems. In this context, the isolation of individual fluorescent defects in silicon, called color centers, opens an avenue toward the integration of atomic sources of single photons. While several color centers have demonstrated an ability to generate antibunched photons, practical applications require tailoring of their emission through quantum electrodynamics effects in optical cavities.This PhD thesis is devoted to cavity quantum electrodynamics with color centers in silicon optical cavities, in view of building an efficient source of single photons. The efforts are first focused on ensembles of G centers in microring cavities. The optical properties of cavity-coupled G centers are studied using microphotoluminescence spectroscopy, and an enhancement of their zero-phonon emission rate by Purcell effect is demonstrated. However, a quantitative analysis reveals a poor quantum efficiency, motivating the choice of another emitter for further experiments. Subsequently, the efforts are focused on the W center. Purcell enhancement of the overall recombination rate is observed for an ensemble of W centers in a circular Bragg grating cavity. Using a quantitative analysis based on finite-difference time-domain calculation, a high quantum efficiency is estimated. The results being encouraging for the purpose of single photon emission, an optical setup is developed for single-emitter spectroscopy and a strategy is devised to fabricate individually-adressable emitters, leading to the isolation of single W centers in unpatterned silicon-on-insulator. Using a nanofabrication process allowing for deterministic positionning, the emitters are embedded into circular Bragg grating cavities, resulting in an increase of the photoluminescence intensity by orders of magnitude by Purcell effect. This work leads to the demonstration of a source of triggered single photons.A next milestone will be the demonstration of a single photon source for integrated photonic circuits, based on a color center in a waveguide-coupled optical cavity. Beyond the interest for integrated quantum photonics, the observation of bright photoluminescence from single color centers opens perspectives for further experiments, allowing to probe fundamental questions relative to their photophysics.

•Sep 16, 2024•0 citations

Efficient and stable fiber-to-chip coupling enabling the injection of telecom quantum dot photons into a silicon photonic chip

Stephanie Bauer, Dongze Wang, Niklas Hoppe +7 more

The capability of realizing quantum photonics implementations on-chip will have a strong impact on several aspects of quantum computation and information processing. The implementation of large scale integrated quantum photonic technologies requires on-chip reconfigurable waveguide circuits as well as single-photon sources and detectors. Many successes have been made in recent years to demonstrate complex quantum circuits in many material platforms. Among all these platforms, the Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) platform is outstanding as it is well developed for classical applications and therefore deploys a high component density, mature fabrication techniques and compatibility with the telecom regime and the complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. However, the lack of on-demand non-classical light sources, directly incorporated in silicon chips, forces the use of nonlinear processes to generate non-classical light states: the probabilistic nature of the emission process sets a limit in the maximally achievable experimental complexity. The use of on-demand sources will have a strong impact on the device’s scalability.

Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC)•Jun 21, 2021•0 citations

All-silicon quantum light source by embedding an atomic emissive center in a nanophotonic cavity

Walid Redjem, Yertay Zhiyenbayev, Wayesh Qarony +10 more

Silicon is the most scalable optoelectronic material but has suffered from its inability to generate directly and efficiently classical or quantum light on-chip. Scaling and integration are the most fundamental challenges facing quantum science and technology. We report an all-silicon quantum light source based on a single atomic emissive center embedded in a silicon-based nanophotonic cavity. We observe a more than 30-fold enhancement of luminescence, a near-unity atom-cavity coupling efficiency, and an 8-fold acceleration of the emission from the all-silicon quantum emissive center. Our work opens immediate avenues for large-scale integrated cavity quantum electrodynamics and quantum light-matter interfaces with applications in quantum communication and networking, sensing, imaging, and computing.

arXiv:2301.06654•Nature Communications•Jun 7, 2023•75 citations

All-silicon quantum light source

Yertay Zhiyenbayev, Wayesh Qarony, Walid Redjem +10 more

Integrating quantum optics with silicon would substantially benefit from the extensive advancements made in manufacturing classical electronic and optical components. We present the first all-silicon quantum light source by embedding a single silicon-based defect within a silicon nanophotonic cavity. We have observed a 30-fold enhancement of luminescence, achieving near-unity atom-cavity coupling efficiency and an 8-fold acceleration of emission from the all-silicon quantum emissive center. These findings pave the way for large-scale integrated cavity quantum electrodynamics and quantum light-matter interfaces.

SPIE Silicon Photonics•Mar 12, 2024•1 citation
Single photon sources play a fundamental role in quantum science and engineering. In the first part of the talk, I will present a deterministic quantum light source in silicon based on single emissive centers that emit in the telecom band [1]. In the second part of the talk, I will discuss a probabilistic source based on an interpretable inverse design cavity enhancing the efficiency of on-chip photon pair generation rate through nonlinear processes [2]. I will also discuss how topological disorder can enhance non-linearities on chip [3]. References. 1- W. Redjem*, Y. Zhiyenbayev*, W. Qarony* et al., “All-silicon quantum light source by embedding an atomic emissive center in a nanophotonic cavity,” Nat Commun 14, 3321 (2023). 2- Z. Jia, W. Qarony, J. Park, S. Hooten, D. Wen, Y. Zhiyenbayev, M. Seclì, W. Redjem, S. Dhuey, A. Schwartzberg, E. Yablonovitch, and B. Kanté, “Interpretable inverse-designed cavity for on-chip nonlinear photon pair generation,” Optica 10, 1529-1534 (2023). 3- Z. Jia, M. Seclì, A. Avdoshkin et al., “Disordered topological graphs enhancing nonlinear phenomena,” Sci. Adv. 9, 14 (2023).
Single photon sources play a fundamental role in quantum science and engineering. In the first part of the talk a will present a deterministic quantum light source in silicon based on single emissive centers that emit in the telecom band [1]. In the second part of the talk, I will discuss a probabilistic source based on an interpretable inverse design cavity enhancing the efficiency of on-chip photon pair generation rate through nonlinear processes [2]. I will also discuss how topological disorder can enhance non-linearities on chip [3].
Photons are excellent carriers of quantum information. The generation, manipulation and read-out of photonic quantum states have enabled pioneering investigations in quantum physics, paving the way to groundbreaking technologies. Integrated quantum photonics, that is the processing of photons on-chip, is at the forefront of this revolution. In particular, silicon integrated circuits have emerged as the dominant material platform for large-scale quantum photonics. However, the difficulty to inject single photons on-demand in a silicon chip is a major obstacle to the level of complexity of current systems. In this context, the isolation of individual fluorescent defects in silicon, called color centers, opens an avenue toward the integration of atomic sources of single photons. While several color centers have demonstrated an ability to generate antibunched photons, practical applications require tailoring of their emission through quantum electrodynamics effects in optical cavities.This PhD thesis is devoted to cavity quantum electrodynamics with color centers in silicon optical cavities, in view of building an efficient source of single photons. The efforts are first focused on ensembles of G centers in microring cavities. The optical properties of cavity-coupled G centers are studied using microphotoluminescence spectroscopy, and an enhancement of their zero-phonon emission rate by Purcell effect is demonstrated. However, a quantitative analysis reveals a poor quantum efficiency, motivating the choice of another emitter for further experiments. Subsequently, the efforts are focused on the W center. Purcell enhancement of the overall recombination rate is observed for an ensemble of W centers in a circular Bragg grating cavity. Using a quantitative analysis based on finite-difference time-domain calculation, a high quantum efficiency is estimated. The results being encouraging for the purpose of single photon emission, an optical setup is developed for single-emitter spectroscopy and a strategy is devised to fabricate individually-adressable emitters, leading to the isolation of single W centers in unpatterned silicon-on-insulator. Using a nanofabrication process allowing for deterministic positionning, the emitters are embedded into circular Bragg grating cavities, resulting in an increase of the photoluminescence intensity by orders of magnitude by Purcell effect. This work leads to the demonstration of a source of triggered single photons.A next milestone will be the demonstration of a single photon source for integrated photonic circuits, based on a color center in a waveguide-coupled optical cavity. Beyond the interest for integrated quantum photonics, the observation of bright photoluminescence from single color centers opens perspectives for further experiments, allowing to probe fundamental questions relative to their photophysics.
The capability of realizing quantum photonics implementations on-chip will have a strong impact on several aspects of quantum computation and information processing. The implementation of large scale integrated quantum photonic technologies requires on-chip reconfigurable waveguide circuits as well as single-photon sources and detectors. Many successes have been made in recent years to demonstrate complex quantum circuits in many material platforms. Among all these platforms, the Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) platform is outstanding as it is well developed for classical applications and therefore deploys a high component density, mature fabrication techniques and compatibility with the telecom regime and the complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. However, the lack of on-demand non-classical light sources, directly incorporated in silicon chips, forces the use of nonlinear processes to generate non-classical light states: the probabilistic nature of the emission process sets a limit in the maximally achievable experimental complexity. The use of on-demand sources will have a strong impact on the device’s scalability.
Silicon is the most scalable optoelectronic material but has suffered from its inability to generate directly and efficiently classical or quantum light on-chip. Scaling and integration are the most fundamental challenges facing quantum science and technology. We report an all-silicon quantum light source based on a single atomic emissive center embedded in a silicon-based nanophotonic cavity. We observe a more than 30-fold enhancement of luminescence, a near-unity atom-cavity coupling efficiency, and an 8-fold acceleration of the emission from the all-silicon quantum emissive center. Our work opens immediate avenues for large-scale integrated cavity quantum electrodynamics and quantum light-matter interfaces with applications in quantum communication and networking, sensing, imaging, and computing.
Integrating quantum optics with silicon would substantially benefit from the extensive advancements made in manufacturing classical electronic and optical components. We present the first all-silicon quantum light source by embedding a single silicon-based defect within a silicon nanophotonic cavity. We have observed a 30-fold enhancement of luminescence, achieving near-unity atom-cavity coupling efficiency and an 8-fold acceleration of emission from the all-silicon quantum emissive center. These findings pave the way for large-scale integrated cavity quantum electrodynamics and quantum light-matter interfaces.