Precise Characterization of a Waveguide Fiber Interface in Silicon Carbide

Spin-active optical emitters in silicon carbide are excellent candidates toward the development of scalable quantum technologies. However, efficient photon collection is challenged by undirected emission patterns from optical dipoles, as well as low total internal reflection angles due to the high refractive index of silicon carbide. Based on recent advances with emitters in silicon carbide waveguides, we now demonstrate a comprehensive study of nanophotonic waveguide-to-fiber interfaces in silicon carbide. We find that across a large range of fabrication parameters, our experimental collection efficiencies remain above 90%. Further, by integrating silicon vacancy color centers into these waveguides, we demonstrate an overall photon count rate of 181 kilo-counts per second, which is an order of magnitude higher compared to standard setups. We also quantify the shift of the ground state spin states due to strain fields, which can be introduced by waveguide fabrication techniques. Finally, we show coherent electron spin manipulation with waveguide-integrated emitters with state-of-the-art coherence times of T ₂ ∼ 42 μs. The robustness of our methods is very promising for quantum networks based on multiple orchestrated emitters.