Cavity-enhanced single artificial atoms in silicon.

Area of Science:

• Solid-state quantum emitters
• Quantum photonics
• Silicon microelectronics

Background:

• Artificial atoms in solids are crucial for quantum networks, computing, and sensing due to their long-lived spins and mobile photonic qubits.
• Silicon is a promising host material for artificial atoms, offering long spin coherence and emission in the telecommunications band, leveraging mature silicon photonics.
• A major limitation is the weak emission rate of these silicon-based artificial atoms, necessitating integration with optical cavities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate cavity enhancement of single artificial atoms (G-centers) in silicon at telecommunication wavelengths.
• To improve the emission intensity and purity of single-photon emission from G-centers.
• To investigate the impact of cavity coupling on the lifetime of G-centers.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of G-centers within a silicon host material.
• Integration of G-centers with optical cavities designed for telecommunication wavelengths.
• Characterization of optical properties, including zero-phonon line intensity, single-photon purity, and spin coherence lifetime.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated cavity enhancement of single G-centers in silicon at telecommunication wavelengths.
• Observed significant enhancement of zero-phonon line intensities.
• Achieved highly pure single-photon emission with statistically unchanged spin lifetimes.

Conclusions:

• Cavity coupling effectively enhances the emission rate and purity of G-centers in silicon, addressing a critical bottleneck for quantum applications.
• The results confirm the potential of silicon-based artificial atoms for scalable quantum technologies.
• The study suggests the existence of two distinct types of G-centers, offering new insights into silicon emitter properties.