Electrically driven single-photon source at room temperature in diamond

• Published in: Nature photonics Vol. 6; no. 5; pp. 299 - 303
• Main Authors: Mizuochi, N., Makino, T., Kato, H., Takeuchi, D., Ogura, M., Okushi, H., Nothaft, M., Neumann, P., Gali, A., Jelezko, F., Wrachtrup, J., Yamasaki, S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.05.2012; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 639/624/1020; 639/624/1075/401; 639/624/399/1096; 639/624/400/482; Applied and Technical Physics; Cryogenic temperature; Defects; Demand; Devices; Electroluminescence; letter; Obstacles; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Quantum dots; Quantum Physics; Semiconductors
• ISSN: 1749-4885; 1749-4893
• DOI: 10.1038/nphoton.2012.75

Single-photon sources that provide non-classical light states on demand have a broad range of applications in quantum communication, quantum computing and metrology 1 . Single-photon emission has been demonstrated using single atoms 2 , ions 3 , molecules 4 , diamond colour centres 5 , 6 and semiconductor quantum dots 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 . Significant progress in highly efficient 8 , 11 and entangled photons 9 sources has recently been shown in semiconductor quantum dots; however, the requirement of cryogenic temperatures due to the necessity to confine carriers is a major obstacle. Here, we show the realization of a stable, room-temperature, electrically driven single-photon source based on a single neutral nitrogen-vacancy centre in a novel diamond diode structure. Remarkably, the generation of electroluminescence follows kinetics fundamentally different from that of photoluminescence with intra-bandgap excitation. This suggests electroluminescence is generated by electron–hole recombination at the defect. Our results prove that functional single defects can be integrated into electronic control structures, which is a crucial step towards elaborate quantum information devices. Researchers demonstrate single-photon generation by electrical excitation from a single neutral nitrogen–vacancy centre in a p–i–n diamond diode. The photon generation rate at room temperature was 4 × 10 4 photons s −1 for an injection current of 14 mA. The researchers also investigated the carrier recombination dynamics of the device.