Femtosecond laser written diamond waveguides: A step towards integrated photonics in the far infrared

Diamond has attracted great interest as a quantum technology platform thanks to its optically active nitrogen vacancy (NV) center. The NV's ground state spin can be read out optically, exhibiting long spin coherence times of ≈1 ms even at ambient temperatures. In addition, the energy levels of the NV are sensitive to external fields. These properties make NVs attractive as a scalable platform for efficient nanoscale resolution sensing based on electron spins and for quantum information systems. Diamond photonics enhance optical interactions with NVs, beneficial for both quantum sensing and information. Diamond is also compelling for microfluidic applications due to its outstanding biocompatibility, with sensing functionality provided by NVs. However, it remains a significant challenge to fabricate photonics, NVs, and microfluidics in diamond. In this Progress Report, an overview is provided of ion irradiation and femtosecond laser writing, two promising fabrication methods for diamond‐based quantum technological devices. The unique capabilities of both techniques are described, and the most important fabrication results of color center, optical waveguide, and microfluidics in diamond are reported, with an emphasis on integrated devices aiming toward high performance quantum sensors and quantum information systems of tomorrow.

show abstract

Section: Photonic Components In Diamondmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Modification lines with separations of 19, 30, and 40 µm (Figure c) resulted in single mode guiding of 1.55, 2.4, and 8.7 µm wavelength, respectively (Figure d). The mid‐IR wavelengths are promising for applications in molecular sensing, optical radar, and astro‐photonics …”

Section: Photonic Components In Diamondmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantum Micro–Nano Devices Fabricated in Diamond by Femtosecond Laser and Ion Irradiation

et al. 2019

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Waveguides with a spacing of 15 μm supported single mode guiding for 808 nm wavelength with a mode field diameter of 8.5 μm×10 μm and with a spacing of 19 μm, the waveguide supported single mode guiding for 1550 nm with a mode size of 16 μm×21 μm [84]. Waveguides with larger separations of 30 μm and 40 μm have been shown to guide wavelengths of 2.4 μm and 8.7 μm respectively, which are promising for applications in molecular sensing, optical radar and astro-photonic applications [90]. Figure 9 shows the optical microscope images and modes of the various waveguides discussed.…”

Section: Femtosecond Laser Writing Of Bulk Optical Waveguides For Infmentioning

confidence: 89%

Femtosecond laser written photonic and microfluidic circuits in diamond

et al. 2019

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Diamond has attracted great interest in the quantum optics community thanks to its nitrogen vacancy (NV) center, a naturally occurring impurity that is responsible for the pink coloration of some diamond crystals. The NV spin state with the brighter luminescence yield can be exploited for spin readout, exhibiting millisecond spin coherence times at ambient temperature. In addition, the energy levels of the ground state triplet of the NV are sensitive to external fields. These properties make NVs attractive as a scalable platform for efficient nanoscale resolution sensing based on electron spins and for quantum information systems. Integrated diamond photonics would be beneficial for optical magnetometry, due to the enhanced light-matter interaction and associated collection efficiency provided by waveguides, and for quantum information, by means of the optical linking of NV centers for long-range entanglement. Diamond is also compelling for microfluidic applications due to its outstanding biocompatibility, with sensing functionality provided by NV centers. Furthermore, laser written micrographitic modifications could lead to efficient and compact detectors of high energy radiation in diamond. However, it remains a challenge to fabricate optical waveguides, graphitic lines, NVs and microfluidics in diamond. In this Review, we describe a disruptive laser nanofabrication method based on femtosecond laser writing to realize a 3D micro-nano device toolkit for diamond. Femtosecond laser writing is advantageous compared to other state of the art fabrication technologies due to its versatility in forming diverse micro and nanocomponents in diamond. We describe how high quality buried optical waveguides, low roughness microfluidic channels, and on-demand NVs with excellent spectral properties can be laser formed in single-crystal diamond. We show the first integrated quantum photonic circuit in diamond consisting of an optically addressed NV for quantum information studies. The rapid progress of the field is encouraging but there are several challenges which must be met to realize future quantum technologies in diamond. We elucidate how these hurdles can be overcome using femtosecond laser fabrication, to realize both quantum computing and nanoscale magnetic field sensing devices in synthetic diamond.

show abstract

“…Since the 1980s [1,2], with the development of Ti:Sapphire mode-locking techniques, femtosecond lasers have raised lots of concern and gradually extended to the field of processing and manufacturing. Compared with the processing based on CO 2 and YAG lasers, femtosecond laser processing has a very small heat-affected zone (HAZ) as well as much higher accuracy [3][4][5]. In addition, compared to the excimer laser emitting the ultraviolet wavelength, femtosecond lasers can not only perform surface micromachining, but also perform welding and internal micromachining on transparent materials, which shows great advantages in the fabrication of three-dimensional photonic devices [6,7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A 33.2 W High Beam Quality Chirped-Pulse Amplification-Based Femtosecond Laser for Industrial Processing

Bai

Sun³

et al. 2020

Materials

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A photonic crystal fiber-based chirped pulse amplification delivering 272 fs pulses of 66.4 µJ energy at a repetition rate of 500 kHz is presented, resulting in an average/peak power of 33.2 W/244 MW. A single grating is adopted for the pulse width stretching and compression, which leads to high-compactness and low cost of the system. The output beam is near-diffraction-limited (M2 = 1.1 ± 0.05) with a power stability better than 0.5%. The cutting of alumina ceramic substrate and flexible printed circuit are demonstrated by using the laser system. The results indicate that the laser is competent for industrial applications.

show abstract

Femtosecond laser written diamond waveguides: A step towards integrated photonics in the far infrared

Cited by 18 publications

References 21 publications

Quantum Micro–Nano Devices Fabricated in Diamond by Femtosecond Laser and Ion Irradiation

Quantum Micro–Nano Devices Fabricated in Diamond by Femtosecond Laser and Ion Irradiation

Femtosecond laser written photonic and microfluidic circuits in diamond

A 33.2 W High Beam Quality Chirped-Pulse Amplification-Based Femtosecond Laser for Industrial Processing

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About