Matthew E. Trusheim

Controlling the spontaneous emission rate of monolayer MoS2 in a photonic crystal nanocavity

We report on controlling the spontaneous emission (SE) rate of a molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) monolayer coupled with a planar photonic crystal (PPC) nanocavity. Spatially resolved photoluminescence (PL) mapping shows strong variations of emission when the MoS2 monolayer is on the PPC cavity, on the PPC lattice, on the air gap, and on the unpatterned gallium phosphide substrate. Polarization dependences of the cavity-coupled MoS2 emission show a more than 5 times stronger extracted PL intensity than the un-coupled emission, which indicates an underlying cavity mode Purcell enhancement of the MoS2 SE rate exceeding a factor of 70.

Broadband magnetometry and temperature sensing with a light-trapping diamond waveguide

Nitrogen–vacancy centres offer significant promise as nanoscale magnetometers. A light-trapping diamond waveguide is demonstrated, enhancing the temperature and magnetic field sensitivity of such centres by three orders of magnitude.

Coherent spin control of a nanocavity-enhanced qubit in diamond

A central aim of quantum information processing is the efficient entanglement of multiple stationary quantum memories via photons. Among solid-state systems, the nitrogen-vacancy centre in diamond has emerged as an excellent optically addressable memory with second-scale electron spin coherence times. Recently, quantum entanglement and teleportation have been shown between two nitrogen-vacancy memories, but scaling to larger networks requires more efficient spin-photon interfaces such as optical resonators. Here we report such nitrogen-vacancy-nanocavity systems in the strong Purcell regime with optical quality factors approaching 10,000 and electron spin coherence times exceeding 200 μs using a silicon hard-mask fabrication process. This spin-photon interface is integrated with on-chip microwave striplines for coherent spin control, providing an efficient quantum memory for quantum networks.

Quantum nanophotonics in diamond [Invited]

The past two decades have seen great advances in developing color centers in diamond for sensing, quantum information processing, and tests of quantum foundations. Increasingly, the success of these applications as well as fundamental investigations of light–matter interaction depend on improved control of optical interactions with color centers—from better fluorescence collection to efficient and precise coupling with confined single optical modes. Wide ranging research efforts have been undertaken to address these demands through advanced nanofabrication of diamond. This review will cover recent advances in diamond nano- and microphotonic structures for efficient light collection, color center to nanocavity coupling, hybrid integration of diamond devices with other material systems, and the wide range of fabrication methods that have enabled these complex photonic diamond systems.

Scalable Fabrication of High Purity Diamond Nanocrystals with Long-Spin-Coherence Nitrogen Vacancy Centers

The combination of long spin coherence time and nanoscale size has made nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in nanodiamonds the subject of much interest for quantum information and sensing applications. However, currently available high-pressure high-temperature (HPHT) nanodiamonds have a high concentration of paramagnetic impurities that limit their spin coherence time to the order of microseconds, less than 1% of that observed in bulk diamond. In this work, we use a porous metal mask and a reactive ion etching process to fabricate nanocrystals from high-purity chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamond. We show that NV centers in these CVD nanodiamonds exhibit record-long spin coherence times in excess of 200 μs, enabling magnetic field sensitivities of 290 nT Hz(-1/2) with the spatial resolution characteristic of a 50 nm diameter probe.

Dynamic nuclear spin polarization of liquids and gases in contact with nanostructured diamond.

Optical pumping of spin polarization can produce almost complete spin order but its application is restricted to select atomic gases and condensed matter systems. Here, we theoretically investigate a novel route to nuclear spin hyperpolarization in arbitrary fluids in which target molecules are exposed to polarized paramagnetic centers located near the surface of a host material. We find that adsorbed nuclear spins relax to positive or negative polarization depending on the average paramagnetic center depth and nanoscale surface topology. For the particular case of optically pumped nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond, we calculate strong nuclear spin polarization at moderate magnetic fields provided the crystal surface is engineered with surface roughness in the few-nanometer range. The equilibrium nuclear spin temperature depends only weakly on the correlation time describing the molecular adsorption dynamics and is robust in the presence of other, unpolarized paramagnetic centers. These features could be exploited to polarize flowing liquids or gases, as we illustrate numerically for the model case of a fluid brought in contact with an optically pumped diamond nanostructure.

Scalable focused ion beam creation of nearly lifetime-limited single quantum emitters in diamond nanostructures

The controlled creation of defect centre—nanocavity systems is one of the outstanding challenges for efficiently interfacing spin quantum memories with photons for photon-based entanglement operations in a quantum network. Here we demonstrate direct, maskless creation of atom-like single silicon vacancy (SiV) centres in diamond nanostructures via focused ion beam implantation with ∼32 nm lateral precision and <50 nm positioning accuracy relative to a nanocavity. We determine the Si+ ion to SiV centre conversion yield to be ∼2.5% and observe a 10-fold conversion yield increase by additional electron irradiation. Low-temperature spectroscopy reveals inhomogeneously broadened ensemble emission linewidths of ∼51 GHz and close to lifetime-limited single-emitter transition linewidths down to 126±13 MHz corresponding to ∼1.4 times the natural linewidth. This method for the targeted generation of nearly transform-limited quantum emitters should facilitate the development of scalable solid-state quantum information processors.

Surface Structure of Aerobically Oxidized Diamond Nanocrystals.

We investigate the aerobic oxidation of high-pressure, high-temperature nanodiamonds (5–50 nm dimensions) using a combination of carbon and oxygen K-edge X-ray absorption, wavelength-dependent X-ray photoelectron, and vibrational spectroscopies. Oxidation at 575 °C for 2 h eliminates graphitic carbon contamination (>98%) and produces nanocrystals with hydroxyl functionalized surfaces as well as a minor component (<5%) of carboxylic anhydrides. The low graphitic carbon content and the high crystallinity of HPHT are evident from Raman spectra acquired using visible wavelength excitation (λexcit = 633 nm) as well as carbon K-edge X-ray absorption spectra where the signature of a core–hole exciton is observed. Both spectroscopic features are similar to those of chemical vapor deposited (CVD) diamond but differ significantly from the spectra of detonation nanodiamond. The importance of these findings to the functionalization of nanodiamond surfaces for biological labeling applications is discussed.

Invited Article: Precision nanoimplantation of nitrogen vacancy centers into diamond photonic crystal cavities and waveguides

We demonstrate a self-aligned lithographic technique for precision generation of nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers within photonic nanostructures on bulk diamond substrates. The process relies on a lithographic mask with nanoscale implantation apertures for NV creation, together with larger features for producing waveguides and photonic nanocavities. This mask allows targeted nitrogen ion implantation, and precision dry etching of nanostructures on bulk diamond. We demonstrate high-yield generation of single NVs at pre-determined nanoscale target regions on suspended diamond waveguides. We report implantation into the mode maximum of diamond photonic crystal nanocavities with a single-NV per cavity yield of ∼26% and Purcell induced intensity enhancement of the zero-phonon line. The generation of NV centers aligned with diamond photonic structures marks an important tool for scalable production of optically coupled spin memories.

Generation of Ensembles of Individually Resolvable Nitrogen Vacancies Using Nanometer-Scale Apertures in Ultrahigh-Aspect Ratio Planar Implantation Masks

A central challenge in developing magnetically coupled quantum registers in diamond is the fabrication of nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers with localization below ∼20 nm to enable fast dipolar interaction compared to the NV decoherence rate. Here, we demonstrate the targeted, high throughput formation of NV centers using masks with a thickness of 270 nm and feature sizes down to ∼1 nm. Super-resolution imaging resolves NVs with a full-width maximum distribution of 26 ± 7 nm and a distribution of NV-NV separations of 16 ± 5 nm.