Deterministic placement of ultra-bright near-infrared color centers in arrays of silicon carbide micropillars

Abstract

We report the enhancement of the optical emission between 850 and 1400 nm of an ensemble of silicon mono-vacancies (VSi), silicon and carbon divacancies (VCVSi), and nitrogen vacancies (NCVSi) in an n-type 4H-SiC array of micropillars. The micropillars have a length of ca. 4.5 μm and a diameter of ca. 740 nm, and were implanted with H+ ions to produce an ensemble of color centers at a depth of approximately 2 μm. The samples were in part annealed at different temperatures (750 and 900 °C) to selectively produce distinct color centers. For all these color centers we saw an enhancement of the photostable fluorescence emission of at least a factor of 6 using micro-photoluminescence systems. Using custom confocal microscopy setups, we characterized the emission of VSi measuring an enhancement by up to a factor of 20, and of NCVSi with an enhancement up to a factor of 7. The experimental results are supported by finite element method simulations. Our study provides the pathway for device design and fabrication with an integrated ultra-bright ensemble of VSi and NCVSi for in vivo imaging and sensing in the infrared.

Silicon Carbide Photonics Bridging Quantum Technology

“…214 The primary goal is to improve the collection efficiency for detection of single emitters 21 and for quantum sensing applications in ensemble emitters. 213 The experimental fluorescence enhancement values observed compared to bulk are around a factor of 10 and at the most of 20, while numerical models generally predict a much higher enhancement, up to 100 to 200. 215 One of the challenges is the positioning of the emitters inside the nanopillars, as the maximum fluorescent enhancement is observed for pillar diameters approximately half of the emission wavelength and for the dipole positioned at about half wavelength from the top.…”

“…In the past decade, nano- and micropillars are being used extensively for enhancing SPS for quantum emitters such as color centers in diamond and for some of the low brightness color centers in SiC such as the V Si (−) , V C V Si (0) , and N C V Si (−) , and erbium . The primary goal is to improve the collection efficiency for detection of single emitters and for quantum sensing applications in ensemble emitters .…”

“…In the past decade, nano- and micropillars are being used extensively for enhancing SPS for quantum emitters such as color centers in diamond and for some of the low brightness color centers in SiC such as the V Si (−) , V C V Si (0) , and N C V Si (−) , and erbium . The primary goal is to improve the collection efficiency for detection of single emitters and for quantum sensing applications in ensemble emitters . The experimental fluorescence enhancement values observed compared to bulk are around a factor of 10 and at the most of 20, while numerical models generally predict a much higher enhancement, up to 100 to 200 .…”

Photon extraction enhancement of praseodymium ions in gallium nitride nanopillars

“…An important method for improving photon extraction efficiency is through the creation of surface nanostructures, such as waveguides, cavities, and other resonant structures. Such structures can be used to improve photon extraction efficiency, photon emission rate, and internal quantum efficiency of the photon emitters 28 .…”

Hexagonal boron nitride: a review of the emerging material platform for single-photon sources and the spin–photon interface

“…After the discovery and assessment of their quantum properties, some of these defects became prominent examples of material platforms for quantum photonics [6][7][8][9][10] and spin-photon interfaces for remote spin-photon entanglement with available nuclear spins as ancilla qubits for quantum memory [11,12]. These include the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond [13], the silicon-vacancy center in diamond [14][15][16], the germanium-vacancy center in diamond [17], the divacancy (DV) in silicon carbide (SiC) [18][19][20], the silicon monovacancy in SiC [21][22][23], the carbon antisite vacancy pair in SiC [24,25], the silicon vacancy and nitrogen (N) atom on an adjacent carbon site in SiC [26][27][28], and rare-earth impurities in complex oxides [29]. While the NV center in diamond is currently the preferred platform for implementing quantum sensing and quantum computing approaches, the recent emergence of other interesting color centers in diamond itself [16,30,31] and in other materials indicates that indeed NV is not optimal for many applications, neither it is unique.…”