Chip‐Compatible Quantum Plasmonic Launcher
Abstract
Integrated on‐demand single‐photon sources are critical for the implementation of photonic quantum information processing systems. To enable practical quantum photonic devices, the emission rates of solid‐state quantum emitters need to be substantially enhanced and the emitted signal must be directly coupled to an on‐chip circuitry. The photon emission rate speed‐up is best achieved via coupling to plasmonic antennas, while on‐chip integration can be realized by directly coupling emitters to photonic waveguides. The realization of practical devices requires that both the emission speed‐up and efficient out‐coupling are achieved in a single architecture. Here, a novel architecture is proposed that combines chip compatibility with high radiative emission rates—a quantum plasmonic launcher. The proposed launchers contain single nitrogen‐vacancy (NV) centers in nanodiamonds as quantum emitters that offer record‐high average fluorescence lifetime shortening factors of about 7000 times. Nanodiamonds with single NVs are sandwiched between two silver films that couple more than half of the emission into in‐plane propagating surface plasmon polaritons. This simple, compact, and scalable architecture represents a crucial step toward the practical realization of high‐speed on‐chip quantum networks.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Aug 02, 2020
- Source ID
- 10.1002/adom.202000889
Entities
People
- Alexander V. Kildishev
- Alexandra Boltasseva
- Alexei S. Lagutchev
- Chin‐cheng Chiang
- Deesha Shah
- Di Wang
- Nick Holonyak Jr.
- Oksana A. Makarova
- Simeon I Bogdanov
- Soham Saha
- Vladimir Shalaev
- Xiaohui Xu
- Zachariah O. Martin
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- Purdue University
- United States Department of Energy
- University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign