Charge State Conversion, Dynamics, and Single Photon Emission from Diamond using High Voltage Nanosecond Pulse Discharge

使用高压纳秒脉冲放电的金刚石电荷态转换、动力学和单光子发射

• 批准号: 2204667
• 负责人: Stephen Cronin
• 金额: $ 46万
• 依托单位: University of Southern California
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-09-01 至 2025-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2204667&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Charge; State; Conversion; Dynamics; Single

Single photon emission (SPE) is important for quantum communication and quantum information processing. While SPE from diamond has been studied extensively over the past 20 years, most of these studies have been all-optical (using external pulsed lasers), and there have been relatively few on their electro-optic or optoelectronic effects (excluding microwave excitation). In order to utilize these quantum emitters in real systems for quantum communication and quantum information processes, some form of electron-based modulation will likely be needed. This project uses high voltage nanosecond pulses (5kV and 50 nsec) to control the charge state of these defects, which opens up new parameters in the design of practical quantum communication systems. For example, the ability to modulate the emission wavelength of a single quantum emitter can provide an important capability in the optical read-out of these quantum emitters and for encoding quantum information. Also, there are several key difficulties in producing efficient electrically-driven light emission from diamond, which have greatly limited their potential use in practical applications. These challenges include difficulty injecting charge carriers due to the large Schottky barrier associated with these wide bandgap semiconductors. This project explores several strategies for overcoming these challenges. Once these challenges have been overcome, diamond pn-junctions may provide a good platform for producing electrically-driven single photons.This project will explore novel mechanisms of light emission from diamond using high voltage nanosecond pulses (5kV and 50 nsec). This approach can selectively produce emission from the negatively charged state of silicon-vacancy defects in diamond (i.e., SiV–), which exhibits narrow (FWHM = 4 nm at room temperature) emission at 738 nm, as distinct from the charge neutral state (i.e., SiV0) which emits around 946 nm. This project explores lower defect densities (i.e., single defect emission) than were previously studied, measuring charge-spin coupling (via ODMR), lifetimes and dynamics, and time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) measurements. The project will also explore electroluminescence from diamond pn-junctions, coupling to photonic crystal cavities and waveguides, and scaling these devices down to smaller sizes that operate at lower voltages. High voltage nanosecond pulse discharges enable extremely high peak fields to be achieved with negligible heating, providing an additional degree of freedom in the manipulation of this well-studied quantum emitter. While manipulation of spin states can be attained easily through magnetic resonance excitation (i.e., electron spin resonance and ODMR), charge state manipulation is not well-established, and techniques for manipulating this important quantum number are lacking. By mapping the luminescence of these devices systematically over a wide range of diamond substrates and voltage pulse parameters, a fundamental understanding of both classical and quantum light emission can be developed, in order to answer several open questions regarding this voltage-induced modulation of the charge state and the emission of Si-vacancy defects in diamond. The project will provide quantum information science education at various grade levels from elementary school to high school students. In addition, a module devoted to nanoscale classical and quantum optoelectronics will be developed for a new nanoscience course, and the research accomplishments under this grant will be discussed in class and integrated into the curriculum.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

单光子发射（SPE）在量子通信和量子信息处理中具有重要意义。虽然在过去的20年里，人们对金刚石的SPE进行了广泛的研究，但大多数研究都是全光学的（使用外部脉冲激光器），而对其电光或光电效应（不包括微波激发）的研究相对较少。为了在用于量子通信和量子信息处理的真实的系统中利用这些量子发射器，可能需要某种形式的基于电子的调制。该项目使用高压纳秒脉冲（5 kV和50 nsec）来控制这些缺陷的电荷状态，这为实际量子通信系统的设计开辟了新的参数。例如，调制单个量子发射器的发射波长的能力可以在这些量子发射器的光学读出中提供重要的能力并且用于编码量子信息。此外，在从金刚石产生有效的电驱动光发射方面存在几个关键困难，这极大地限制了它们在实际应用中的潜在用途。这些挑战包括由于与这些宽带隙半导体相关联的大肖特基势垒而难以注入电荷载流子。本项目探讨了克服这些挑战的几种策略。一旦这些挑战被克服，金刚石pn结可能会提供一个很好的平台来产生电驱动的单光子。本项目将探索金刚石使用高压纳秒脉冲（5 kV和50 nsec）发光的新机制。这种方法可以选择性地从金刚石中的硅空位缺陷的负电荷状态（即，SiV-），其在738 nm处表现出窄（在室温下FWHM = 4 nm）发射，与电荷中性状态（即，SiV 0），其发射约946 nm。该项目探索更低的缺陷密度（即，单缺陷发射），测量电荷-自旋耦合（通过ODMR），寿命和动力学，以及时间相关单光子计数（TCSPC）测量。该项目还将探索金刚石pn结的电致发光，耦合到光子晶体腔和波导，并将这些器件缩小到在较低电压下工作的较小尺寸。高电压纳秒脉冲放电能够实现极高的高峰领域，可以忽略不计的加热，提供了一个额外的自由度，在操纵这个良好的研究量子发射器。虽然可以通过磁共振激发容易地获得自旋状态的操纵（即，电子自旋共振和ODMR），电荷态操纵还没有很好地建立，并且缺乏用于操纵该重要量子数的技术。通过映射这些设备的发光系统在广泛的金刚石衬底和电压脉冲参数，经典和量子发光的基本理解，可以开发，为了回答几个悬而未决的问题，这种电压诱导的调制的电荷状态和发射的硅空位缺陷的金刚石。该项目将在从小学到高中的各个年级提供量子信息科学教育。此外，一个专门用于纳米经典和量子光电子学的模块将被开发为一个新的纳米科学课程，在此资助下的研究成果将在课堂上讨论，并纳入课程。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。