Quantum technologies in diamond enabled by laser processing

Abstract

Integrated photonic circuits promise to be foundational for applications in quantum information and sensing technologies, through their ability to confine and manipulate light. A key role in such technologies may be played by spin-active quantum emitters, which can be used to store quantum information or as sensitive probes of the local environment. A leading candidate is the negatively charged nitrogen vacancy (NV À ) diamond color center, whose ground spin state can be optically read out, exhibiting long (%1 ms) coherence times at room temperature. These properties have driven research toward the integration of photonic circuits in the bulk of diamond with the development of techniques allowing fabrication of optical waveguides. In particular, femtosecond laser writing has emerged as a powerful technique, capable of writing light guiding structures with 3D configurations as well as creating NV complexes. In this Perspective, the physical mechanisms behind laser fabrication in diamond will be reviewed. The properties of waveguides, single-and ensemble-NV centers, will be analyzed, together with the possibility to combine such structures in integrated photonic devices, which can find direct application in quantum information and sensing.

Productivity of Concentration-Dependent Conversion of Substitutional Nitrogen Atoms into Nitrogen-Vacancy Quantum Emitters in Synthetic-Diamond by Ultrashort Laser Pulses

“…Then, by dividing the initial C-center concentration by the number of laser pulses and near-critical plasma density, photogeneration rates of NV-centers and I–V pairs (productivities η NV , η IV ), as well as the yield of I–V pairs per electron-hole pair were estimated by order of magnitude. These findings could enlighten the laser-induced formation of individual single-photon NV-based quantum emitters [ 29 ] and potential damage processes in bulk diamonds, including their graphitization [ 30 ].…”