A silicon carbide room-temperature single-photon source

Over the past few years, single-photon generation has been realized in numerous systems: single molecules(1), quantum dots(2-4), diamond colour centres5 and others(6). The generation and detection of single photons play a central role in the experimental foundation of quantum mechanics(7) and measurement theory(8). An efficient and high-quality single-photon source is needed to implement quantum key distribution, quantum repeaters and photonic quantum information processing(9). Here we report the identification and formation of ultrabright, room-temperature, photostable single-photon sources in a device-friendly material, silicon carbide (SiC). The source is composed of an intrinsic defect, known as the carbon antisite-vacancy pair, created by carefully optimized electron irradiation and annealing of ultrapure SiC. An extreme brightness (2 x 10(6) counts s(-1)) resulting from polarization rules and a high quantum efficiency is obtained in the bulk without resorting to the use of a cavity or plasmonic structure. This may benefit future integrated quantum photonic devices(9).

Johnson, B. C.University of Melbourne, Australia Japan Atom Energy Agency, Japan (author)
Ivády, ViktorLinköpings universitet,Teoretisk Fysik,Tekniska högskolan(Swepub:liu)vikiv58 (author)
Stavrias, N.University of Melbourne, Australia (author)
Umeda, T.University of Tsukuba, Japan (author)
Gali, A.Hungarian Academic Science, Hungary Budapest University of Technology and Econ, Hungary (author)
Ohshima, T.Japan Atom Energy Agency, Japan (author)
RMIT University, AustraliaUniversity of Melbourne, Australia Japan Atom Energy Agency, Japan (creator_code:org_t)

By the author/editor: Castelletto, S.; Johnson, B. C.; Ivády, Viktor; Stavrias, N.; Umeda, T.; Gali, A.; show more...; Ohshima, T.; show less...

Kungliga biblioteket hanterar dina personuppgifter i enlighet med EU:s dataskyddsförordning (2018), GDPR. Läs mer om hur det funkar här.
Så här hanterar KB dina uppgifter vid användning av denna tjänst.