Single artificial atoms in silicon emitting at telecom wavelengths
No TL;DR found
Abstract
Given its unrivaled potential of integration and scalability, silicon is\nlikely to become a key platform for large-scale quantum technologies.\nIndividual electron-encoded artificial atoms either formed by impurities or\nquantum dots have emerged as a promising solution for silicon-based integrated\nquantum circuits. However, single qubits featuring an optical interface needed\nfor large-distance exchange of information have not yet been isolated in such a\nprevailing semiconductor. Here we show the isolation of single optically-active\npoint defects in a commercial silicon-on-insulator wafer implanted with carbon\natoms. These artificial atoms exhibit a bright, linearly polarized\nsingle-photon emission at telecom wavelengths suitable for long-distance\npropagation in optical fibers. Our results demonstrate that despite its small\nbandgap (~ 1.1 eV) a priori unfavorable towards such observation, silicon can\naccommodate point defects optically isolable at single scale, like in\nwide-bandgap semiconductors. This work opens numerous perspectives for\nsilicon-based quantum technologies, from integrated quantum photonics to\nquantum communications and metrology.\n