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Nitrogen-vacancy color centers in nanodiamonds as reference single-photon emitters

MetadataDetails
Publication Date2025-05-20
JournalOptics Express
AuthorsNikesh Patel, Benyam Dejen, Stephen Church, Philip R. Dolan, Patrick Parkinson
InstitutionsNational Physical Laboratory, Quantum Group (United States)
Citations1

Quantitative and reproducible optical characterization of single quantum emitters is crucial for quantum photonic materials research, yet accounting for measurement conditions remains challenging due to a lack of an established reference standard. We propose nanodiamonds containing single nitrogen vacancy (NV ? ) color centers as reliable, stable, and robust reference sources of single-photon emission. We select 4 potential reference emitter candidates from a study of thousands of NV ? centers. Candidates were remeasured at a second laboratory, correlating optical pump power and NV ? center emission intensity at saturation in addition to corresponding g (2) (0) values. A reference nanodiamond is demonstrated to account for experimental conditions, with reproducible and reliable single-photon emission, as a model for a new, to our knowledge, single-photon emitter reference standard.