Quantum and Nonlinear Photonics in Silicon Carbide

该项目由材料研究部（DMR）的电子和光子材料（EPM）和凝聚态物理（CMP）项目，以及电气、通信和网络系统部（ECCS）的电子、光子学和磁性器件（EPMD）项目共同资助。非技术描述：该项目开发了一个光与物质之间强相互作用的新平台-使用碳化硅纳米光学腔（谐振器），同时包含光发射器（色中心）并将光定位在重叠的亚波长体积中。这样的平台可以将一束光与另一束光进行切换，并改变其颜色——即使光束非常微弱，只有几个光子的水平。这些效应的潜在应用包括长距离安全量子通信系统的构建模块，以更低的功率和更高的速度运行的电子开关的光学等价物，以及磁场传感器。因此，这项工作结合了光子工程、材料/纳米科学和基础物理学。该项目包含与研究相结合的教育和推广活动，包括积极招募少数民族和妇女从事科学和工程职业，开发新课程和教科书，本科生研究和咨询，以及参与K-12学生和教师的推广计划。技术描述：本研究的重点是开发一种基于碳化硅纳米光子腔的量子和非线性光子平台，该光子腔内嵌有光学活性晶体杂质（色心）。在具有高质量因子和小模体积的纳米光子晶体腔内产生合适的量子发射体（例如，通过电子束辐照）。该平台在各种定制的光学装置中进行探测，以研究室温和低光功率水平下的非线性和量子光学以及多发射器腔量子电动力学效应。观察到的效应被用于构建几个光子水平的光开关（用于光通信和计算），将碳化硅中量子发射器的长寿命状态与光纤网络中传播的光子（应用于量子网络）相连接，构建从可见光到中红外波长的片上光源，以及感应弱磁场。

The project is jointly funded by the Electronic and Photonic Materials (EPM) and the Condensed Matter Physics (CMP) Programs, both in the Division of Materials Research (DMR), and by the Electronics, Photonics, and Magnetic Devices (EPMD) Program in the Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems (ECCS).Non-technical Description: This project develops a new platform for strong interaction between light and matter - using an optical cavity (resonator) nanofabricated in silicon carbide that simultaneously contains optical emitters (color centers) and localizes light in an overlapping, sub-wavelength volume. Such a platform enables switching one optical beam with another and changing its color - even with very weak beams, at the level of only a few photons. The potential applications of these effects include building blocks for secure quantum communication systems over long distances, optical equivalents of electronic switches operating at much lower powers and higher speeds, and magnetic field sensors. This work therefore combines photonic engineering, with materials/nanoscience, and fundamental physics. The project contains educational and outreach activities integrated with research, including active recruitment of minorities and women for science and engineering careers, development of new classes and textbooks, undergraduate research and advising, and participation in outreach programs for K-12 students and teachers.Technical Description: The focus of this research is the development of a quantum and nonlinear photonics platform based on silicon carbide nanophotonic cavities with embedded ensembles of optically-active crystalline impurities (color centers). Ensembles of suitable quantum emitters are generated (e.g., via electron beam irradiation) inside nanofabricated photonic crystal cavities with high quality factors and small mode volumes. Such a platform is probed in a variety of custom-built optical setups to study nonlinear and quantum optics, and multi-emitter cavity quantum electrodynamics effects at room temperature and at low optical power levels. The observed effects are employed to build optical switches at the level of a few photons (for optical communications and computing), to interface long-lived states of quantum emitters in silicon carbide to photons propagating in fiber optic networks (with applications to quantum networks), to build on-chip light sources for wavelengths from visible through mid-infrared, and to sense weak magnetic fields.