Description
Colour centres in silicon are an emerging platform for quantum information technologies. They can emit into low-loss optical telecommunication bands and leverage advanced silicon nanofabrication for photonics and microelectronics. Of these, the silicon T centre, emitting in the O-band, is the most advanced. We integrate single T centres into optical nanocavities with lateral diodes to realize single-spin-LED devices. Optical cavities enhance optical coherence and increase emission rate into a photonic circuit or fibre network, while the diodes enable three distinct modes of operation that I shall present in this talk.
First, under pulsed forwards bias, the diode enables electrically-injected single-photon generation [1]. Under an applied magnetic field, the spin-selective optical transitions of the T centre's bound electron are resolved, and detecting a single photon heralds a target spin state. This provides a fast alternative to spin initialization by optical pumping.
Second, under reverse bias, the diode's electric field can be tuned to control the single-photon emission frequency via the DC Stark effect [2]. We demonstrate tuning over the inhomogeneous linewidth of T centre devices, sufficient to bring the majority of device pairs on chip into mutual resonance. We also measure lifetime variations as a single T centre is Stark-tuned through the cavity resonance.
Finally, diode devices can perform localized annealing to reorient the T centre between its 12 possible orientations [3]. Using in situ cryogenic photoluminescence feedback, a desired orientation can be selected and remains stable thereafter. This technique improves the yield of T centre devices with well-coupled emitters by an order of magnitude.
Together, these capabilities significantly improve the feasibility of quantum networks of T centres for communication or computation at scale.
[1] Electrically triggered spin–photon devices in silicon. Nat. Photon. 19, 1132–1137 (2025).
[2] Spectral tuning of single T centres by the Stark effect, arXiv:2604.25170
[3] In preparation
| I am the presenting author | Yes |
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