Electrically-driven silicon single-photon source

电驱动硅单光子源

• 批准号: 2231901
• 负责人: Jimmy Xu
• 金额: $ 45万
• 依托单位: Brown University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-01 至 2026-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2231901&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Electrically; driven; silicon; single; photon

Quantum light sources are enablers of quantum information processing, communications, sensing and imaging. Further progress demands single-photon sources that are electrically-driven (i.e. electrically triggered), emit at a low-loss telecom wavelength, and can be miniaturized and integrated with silicon electronic circuits. This project aims to pilot the development of such single-photon sources that are not yet available. Success in this endeavor would represent an unprecedented advance in the field and would helppush the boundaries of quantum information technology, which in turn could lead to expansion of our capabilities in advancing optical and materials sciences in the quantum domain. In so doing, the proposed effort will also catalyze transformative advances of our engineering education and training programs towards quantum technologies, thereby not only impacting the training of postdocs, graduates, and undergraduates.The proposed effort leverages a prior limit-breaking effort in generating bright stimulated emission in the telecom O-band (~1.3 μm) from a crystalline silicon patterned with periodically distributed G-centers – also known as the carbon-silicon ‘color-center’. This project too will push the boundary, but to the opposite limit – i.e. to electrically-pumped single-photon emission, which is unprecedented in silicon and monochromatic (zero-phonon). Enabled by the innovative nanopatterning of a Si crystal with a 2D periodic array of nanoscale holes, it would create a periodic distribution of G-centers embedded in the sidewall of the nanohole which is also mechanically strained and bandgap lowered. As demonstrated in our earlier reports, this would allow one to create the emissive G-centers with little increase in the overall optical loss while simultaneously channeling the injected charge carriers to the G-centers for recombination and emission. Furthermore, the periodic patterning will be designed in such a way that the spontaneous emission rate can be enhanced via the Purcell effect. This will be achieved by engineering the structure and periodicity of the nano-hole array to create a photonic crystal with a small mode volume and a high density of photon states to peak at/near the frequency of the G-center emission. An extra enhancement can be achieved by blocking the leakage hole current with a thin barrier layer while still allowing electrons to tunnel through. The photon collection efficiency will be maximized with both the holey low-index silicon layer and the transparent electrode as well as the design of the photonic crystal structure (nanohole array) with the stop band in the lateral direction and the emission cone in the perpendicular direction. The top electrodes, also to be patterned into an array of macroscopic sizes, would allow selective pumping of individual SPS zones so as to allow selection of single-photon emitters that are brightest, monochromatic and yet still satisfy the single-photon criterion. These measures are expected to provide us the first-ever, arrayed, electrically-pumped, monochromatic silicon single-photon sources in the telecom O-band that are compatible to and ready for integration with silicon electronics for quantum information processing.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

量子光源是量子信息处理、通信、传感和成像的推动者，需要电驱动（即电触发）、以低损耗电信波长发射、并且可以小型化和集成的单光子源。该项目旨在试点开发目前尚不可用的单光子源，这将代表该领域前所未有的进步，并将有助于推动量子信息技术的发展，进而引领量子信息技术的发展。扩大我们在量子领域推进光学和材料科学的能力，这样做，拟议的努力还将促进我们的工程教育和培训项目量子技术的变革性进步，从而不仅影响博士后、毕业生和学生的培训。拟议的工作利用了先前的突破性努力，从具有周期性分布的 G 中心图案的晶体硅（也称为碳硅）产生电信 O 波段（~1.3 μm）的明亮受激发射该项目也将突破界限，但达到相反的极限——即电泵浦单光子发射，这在硅和单色（零声子）中是前所未有的。具有纳米级孔的二维周期性阵列的硅晶体，它将产生嵌入纳米孔侧壁的周期性分布的 G 中心，该纳米孔也受到机械应变并且带隙降低，如所证明的。在我们之前的报告中，这将允许人们在总体光学损耗几乎没有增加的情况下创建发射 G 中心，同时将注入的电荷载流子引导到 G 中心进行重组和发射。此外，周期性图案将被设计。这种方式可以通过珀塞尔效应增强自发发射率，这将通过设计纳米孔阵列的结构和周期性来创建具有小模式体积和高光子态密度的光子晶体来实现。顶峰在/接近 G 中心发射的频率，可以通过用薄势垒层阻挡漏电空穴电流来实现，同时仍然允许电子隧道通过，从而使带孔低层的光子收集效率最大化。折射率硅层和透明电极以及光子晶体结构（纳米孔阵列）的设计，其中阻带位于横向，发射锥位于垂直方向。顶部电极也将被图案化为阵列。宏观的尺寸，将允许对各个 SPS 区域进行选择性泵浦，以便选择最亮、单色但仍满足单光子标准的单光子发射器。这些措施有望为我们提供有史以来第一个阵列式电学发射器。 - 电信 O 波段中的泵浦、单色硅单光子源，与用于量子信息处理的硅电子器件兼容并准备好集成。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用评估被认为值得支持基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。