Deterministic Enhancement of Coherent Photon Generation from a Nitrogen-Vacancy Center in Ultrapure Diamond
At a Glance
Section titled āAt a Glanceā| Metadata | Details |
|---|---|
| Publication Date | 2017-09-07 |
| Journal | Physical Review X |
| Authors | Daniel Riedel, Immo Sƶllner, Brendan Shields, Sebastian Starosielec, Patrick Appel |
| Institutions | University of Basel |
| Citations | 183 |
Abstract
Section titled āAbstractāThe nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond has an optically addressable, highly coherent spin. However, a NV center even in high-quality single-crystalline material is a very poor source of single photons: Extraction out of the high-index diamond is inefficient, the emission of coherent photons represents just a few percent of the total emission, and the decay time is large. In principle, all three problems can be addressed with a resonant microcavity. In practice, it has proved difficult to implement this concept: Photonic engineering hinges on nanofabrication, yet it is notoriously difficult to process diamond without degrading the NV centers. Here, we present a microcavity scheme that uses minimally processed diamond, thereby preserving the high quality of the starting material and a tunable microcavity platform. We demonstrate a clear change in the lifetime for multiple individual NV centers on tuning both the cavity frequency and antinode position, a Purcell effect. The overall Purcell factor F P = 2.0 translates to a Purcell factor for the zero phonon line (ZPL) of F ZPL P ā¼ 30 and an increase in the ZPL emission probability from about 3% to 46%. By making a step change in the NVās optical properties in a deterministic way, these results pave the way for much enhanced spin-photon and spin-spin entanglement rates.