Boston Chapter of the IEEE Photonics Society

Abstract:  Diamond possesses remarkable physical and chemical properties, and in many ways is the ultimate engineering material. For example, it is transparent from the ultra-violet to infrared, has a high refractive index (n = 2.4), strong optical nonlinearity (Kerr and Raman) and a wide variety of light-emitting defects. These properties make diamond a highly desirable material for many applications, including those in quantum and nonlinear photonics, high power optics and optomechanics.

In my talk, I will review the advances in nanotechnology that have enabled fabrication of nanoscale optical devices and chip-scale systems in diamond [1, 2]. Using these approaches we were able to demonstrate high-Q factor diamond photonic crystal cavities [3], frequency combs [4], and Raman lasers [5]. One exciting application of diamond is in the field of quantum information science and technology. At the heart of these applications are diamond’s luminescent defects—color centers—that have all the essential elements for quantum technology, including storage, logic, and communication of quantum information. Recent efforts aimed at coupling of NV [6] and SiV [7] color centers to optical, mechanical [8,9] and optomechanical [10] resonators will be discussed. Finally, application of diamond for realization of high-power optical components (e.g. mirrors, windows and filters), capable of withstanding CW intensities in the excess of 1 GW/cm2 will be presented.

References:

[1] B. J. M. Hausmann, et al, "Integrated Diamond Networks for Quantum Nanophotonics", Nano Letters, 12, 1578 (2012)

[2] M.J. Burek, et al, "Free-standing mechanical and photonic nanostructures in single-crystal diamond", Nano Lett., 12, 6084 (2012)

[3] M. Burek, Y. Chu, M. Liddy, P. Patel, J. Rochman, W. Hong, Q. Quan, M. D. Lukin, M. Loncar, "High-Q optical nanocavities in bulk single-crystal diamond", Nat. Comm., 5, 5718 (2014)

[4] B. J. M. Hausmann et al, "Diamond Nonlinear Photonics", Nature Photonics, 8, 369 (2014)

[5] P. Latawiec et al, "On-Chip Diamond Raman Laser" Optica, 2, 924 (2015)

[6] B. J. M. Hausmann, et al, "Coupling of NV centers to photonic crystal nanobeams in diamond", Nano letters, 13, 5791-5796 (2013)

[7] A. Sipahigil et al, "Single-Photon Switching and Entanglement of Solid-State Qubits in an Integrated Nanophotonic System", Science, 6314, 847 (2016)

[8] Y. I. Sohn et al, "Dynamic Actuation of Single-Crystal Diamond Nanobeams." Applied Physics Letters, 107, 243106 (2015).

[9] S. Meesala et al, "Enhanced strain coupling of nitrogen vacancy spins to nanoscale diamond cantilevers." Phys. Rev. Applied, 5, 034010 (2016)

[10] M. J. Burek, et al, "Diamond optomechanical crystals." Optica, 12, 1404 (2016)

Biography:  Marko Lončar's research focuses on phenomena resulting from the interaction of light and matter on a nano-scale level. These phenomena include efficient light confinement and emission within photonic crystals, light generation in engineered semiconductors (e.g. nanowires, quantum dots, quantum cascade lasers), manipulation of nano-scale objects using guided waves. He is interested in development of functional nano-photonic devices, and their integration into systems, that can be used for optical communication and optical signal processiong, life sciences and quantum optics.