2020/01/07 by W. Redjem, Walid Redjem, Alrik Durand +30 · 2 citations
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Materials science #Mechanical and Optical Resonators #Open quantum system #Optics #Optoelectronics #Photon #Photonics #Physics #Quantum #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum computer #Quantum dot #Quantum entanglement #Quantum information science #Quantum mechanics #Quantum network #Quantum optics and atomic interactions #Quantum technology #Qubit #Semiconductor #Silicon #Silicon on insulator #Silicon photonics #cond-mat.mes-hall #physics.app-ph #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/s41928-020-00499-0
published as Nature Electronics 3, 738-743 (2020)
arxiv created 2020/01/07 · openalex publication_date 2020/11/23 · arxiv updated 2020/12/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Given its unrivaled potential of integration and scalability, silicon is likely to become a key platform for large-scale quantum technologies. Individual electron-encoded artificial atoms either formed by impurities or quantum dots have emerged as a promising solution for silicon-based integrated quantum circuits. However, single qubits featuring an optical interface needed for large-distance exchange of information have not yet been isolated in such a prevailing semiconductor. Here we show the isolation of single optically-active point defects in a commercial silicon-on-insulator wafer implanted with carbon atoms. These artificial atoms exhibit a bright, linearly polarized single-photon emission at telecom wavelengths suitable for long-distance propagation in optical fibers. Our results demonstrate that despite its small bandgap (~ 1.1 eV) a priori unfavorable towards such observation, silicon can accommodate point defects optically isolable at single scale, like in wide-bandgap semiconductors. This work opens numerous perspectives for silicon-based quantum technologies, from integrated quantum photonics to quantum communications and metrology.