69 research outputs found
Design and Focused Ion Beam Fabrication of Single Crystal Diamond Nanobeam Cavities
We present the design and fabrication of nanobeam photonic crystal cavities
in single crystal diamond for applications in cavity quantum electrodynamics.
First, we describe three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain simulations
of a high quality factor (Q ~ 10^6) and small mode volume (V ~ 0.5
({\lambda}/n)^3) device whose cavity resonance corresponds to the zero-phonon
transition (637nm) of the Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) color center in diamond. This
high Q/V structure, which would allow for strong light-matter interaction, is
achieved by gradually tapering the size of the photonic crystal holes between
the defect center and mirror regions of the nanobeam. Next, we demonstrate two
different focused ion beam (FIB) fabrication strategies to generate thin
diamond membranes and nanobeam photonic crystal resonators from a bulk crystal.
These approaches include a diamond crystal "side-milling" procedure as well as
an application of the "lift-off" technique used in TEM sample preparation.
Finally, we discuss certain aspects of the FIB fabrication routine that are a
challenge to the realization of the high-Q/V designs
Single Color Centers Implanted in Diamond Nanostructures
The development of materials processing techniques for optical diamond
nanostructures containing a single color center is an important problem in
quantum science and technology. In this work, we present the combination of ion
implantation and top-down diamond nanofabrication in two scenarios: diamond
nanopillars and diamond nanowires. The first device consists of a 'shallow'
implant (~20nm) to generate Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color centers near the top
surface of the diamond crystal. Individual NV centers are then isolated
mechanically by dry etching a regular array of nanopillars in the diamond
surface. Photon anti-bunching measurements indicate that a high yield (>10%) of
the devices contain a single NV center. The second device demonstrates 'deep'
(~1\mu m) implantation of individual NV centers into pre-fabricated diamond
nanowire. The high single photon flux of the nanowire geometry, combined with
the low background fluorescence of the ultrapure diamond, allows us to sustain
strong photon anti-bunching even at high pump powers.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figure
Improving the performance of bright quantum dot single photon sources using amplitude modulation
Single epitaxially-grown semiconductor quantum dots have great potential as
single photon sources for photonic quantum technologies, though in practice
devices often exhibit non-ideal behavior. Here, we demonstrate that amplitude
modulation can improve the performance of quantum-dot-based sources. Starting
with a bright source consisting of a single quantum dot in a fiber-coupled
microdisk cavity, we use synchronized amplitude modulation to temporally filter
the emitted light. We observe that the single photon purity, temporal overlap
between successive emission events, and indistinguishability can be greatly
improved with this technique. As this method can be applied to any triggered
single photon source, independent of geometry and after device fabrication, it
is a flexible approach to improve the performance of solid-state systems, which
often suffer from excess dephasing and multi-photon background emission
Coherent, mechanical control of a single electronic spin
The ability to control and manipulate spins via electrical, magnetic and
optical means has generated numerous applications in metrology and quantum
information science in recent years. A promising alternative method for spin
manipulation is the use of mechanical motion, where the oscillation of a
mechanical resonator can be magnetically coupled to a spins magnetic dipole,
which could enable scalable quantum information architectures9 and sensitive
nanoscale magnetometry. To date, however, only population control of spins has
been realized via classical motion of a mechanical resonator. Here, we
demonstrate coherent mechanical control of an individual spin under ambient
conditions using the driven motion of a mechanical resonator that is
magnetically coupled to the electronic spin of a single nitrogen-vacancy (NV)
color center in diamond. Coherent control of this hybrid mechanical/spin system
is achieved by synchronizing pulsed spin-addressing protocols (involving
optical and radiofrequency fields) to the motion of the driven oscillator,
which allows coherent mechanical manipulation of both the population and phase
of the spin via motion-induced Zeeman shifts of the NV spins energy. We
demonstrate applications of this coherent mechanical spin-control technique to
sensitive nanoscale scanning magnetometry.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Bright single-photon sources in bottom-up tailored nanowires
The ability to achieve near-unity light extraction efficiency is necessary
for a truly deterministic single photon source. The most promising method to
reach such high efficiencies is based on embedding single photon emitters in
tapered photonic waveguides defined by top-down etching techniques. However,
light extraction efficiencies in current top-down approaches are limited by
fabrication imperfections and etching induced defects. The efficiency is
further tempered by randomly positioned off-axis quantum emitters. Here, we
present perfectly positioned single quantum dots on the axis of a tailored
nanowire waveguide using bottom-up growth. In comparison to quantum dots in
nanowires without waveguide, we demonstrate a 24-fold enhancement in the single
photon flux, corresponding to a light extraction efficiency of 42 %. Such high
efficiencies in one-dimensional nanowires are promising to transfer quantum
information over large distances between remote stationary qubits using flying
qubits within the same nanowire p-n junction.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figure
Resonant enhancement of the zero-phonon emission from a color center in a diamond cavity
We demonstrate coupling of the zero-phonon line of individual
nitrogen-vacancy centers and the modes of microring resonators fabricated in
single-crystal diamond. A zero-phonon line enhancement exceeding ten-fold is
estimated from lifetime measurements at cryogenic temperatures. The devices are
fabricated using standard semiconductor techniques and off-the-shelf materials,
thus enabling integrated diamond photonics.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
A robust, scanning quantum system for nanoscale sensing and imaging
Controllable atomic-scale quantum systems hold great potential as sensitive
tools for nanoscale imaging and metrology. Possible applications range from
nanoscale electric and magnetic field sensing to single photon microscopy,
quantum information processing, and bioimaging. At the heart of such schemes is
the ability to scan and accurately position a robust sensor within a few
nanometers of a sample of interest, while preserving the sensor's quantum
coherence and readout fidelity. These combined requirements remain a challenge
for all existing approaches that rely on direct grafting of individual solid
state quantum systems or single molecules onto scanning-probe tips. Here, we
demonstrate the fabrication and room temperature operation of a robust and
isolated atomic-scale quantum sensor for scanning probe microscopy.
Specifically, we employ a high-purity, single-crystalline diamond nanopillar
probe containing a single Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) color center. We illustrate the
versatility and performance of our scanning NV sensor by conducting
quantitative nanoscale magnetic field imaging and near-field single-photon
fluorescence quenching microscopy. In both cases, we obtain imaging resolution
in the range of 20 nm and sensitivity unprecedented in scanning quantum probe
microscopy
Sensing electric fields using single diamond spins
The ability to sensitively detect charges under ambient conditions would be a
fascinating new tool benefitting a wide range of researchers across
disciplines. However, most current techniques are limited to low-temperature
methods like single-electron transistors (SET), single-electron electrostatic
force microscopy and scanning tunnelling microscopy. Here we open up a new
quantum metrology technique demonstrating precision electric field measurement
using a single nitrogen-vacancy defect centre(NV) spin in diamond. An AC
electric field sensitivity reaching ~ 140V/cm/\surd Hz has been achieved. This
corresponds to the electric field produced by a single elementary charge
located at a distance of ~ 150 nm from our spin sensor with averaging for one
second. By careful analysis of the electronic structure of the defect centre,
we show how an applied magnetic field influences the electric field sensing
properties. By this we demonstrate that diamond defect centre spins can be
switched between electric and magnetic field sensing modes and identify
suitable parameter ranges for both detector schemes. By combining magnetic and
electric field sensitivity, nanoscale detection and ambient operation our study
opens up new frontiers in imaging and sensing applications ranging from
material science to bioimaging
Enhanced Single Photon Emission from a Diamond-Silver Aperture
We have developed a scalable method for coupling single color centers in
diamond to plasmonic resonators and demonstrated Purcell enhancement of the
single photon emission rate of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers. Our structures
consist of single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center-containing diamond nanoposts
embedded in a thin silver film. We have utilized the strong plasmon resonances
in the diamond-silver apertures to enhance the spontaneous emission of the
enclosed dipole. The devices were realized by a combination of ion implantation
and top-down nanofabrication techniques, which have enabled deterministic
coupling between single NV centers and the plasmonic modes for multiple devices
in parallel. The plasmon-enhanced NV centers exhibited over six-fold
improvements in spontaneous emission rate in comparison to bare nanoposts and
up to a factor of 3.6 in radiative lifetime reduction over bulk samples, with
comparable increases in photon counts. The hybrid diamond-plasmon system
presented here could provide a stable platform for the implementation of
diamond-based quantum information processing and magnetometry schemes.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figure
Nanoscale magnetic imaging of a single electron spin under ambient conditions
The detection of ensembles of spins under ambient conditions has revolutionized the biological, chemical and physical sciences through magnetic resonance imaging and nuclear magnetic resonance . Pushing sensing capabilities to the individual-spin level would enable unprecedented applications such as single-molecule structural imaging; however, the weak magnetic fields from single spins are undetectable by conventional far-field resonance techniques . In recent years, there has been a considerable effort to develop nanoscale scanning magnetometers , which are able to measure fewer spins by bringing the sensor in close proximity to its target. The most sensitive of these magnetometers generally require low temperatures for operation, but the ability to measure under ambient conditions (standard temperature and pressure) is critical for many imaging applications, particularly in biological systems. Here we demonstrate detection and nanoscale imaging of the magnetic field from an initialized single electron spin under ambient conditions using a scanning nitrogen-vacancy magnetometer. Real-space, quantitative magnetic-field images are obtained by deterministically scanning our nitrogen-vacancy magnetometer 50 nm above a target electron spin, while measuring the local magnetic field using dynamically decoupled magnetometry protocols. We discuss how this single-spin detection enables the study of a variety of room-temperature phenomena in condensed-matter physics with an unprecedented combination of spatial resolution and spin sensitivity
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