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Silicon carbide has recently surged as an alternative material for scalable and integrated quantum photonics, as it is a host for naturally occurring color centers within its bandgap, emitting from the UV to the IR even at telecom wavelength. Some of these color centers have been proved to be characterized by quantum properties associated with their single-photon emission and their coherent spin state control, which make them ideal for quantum technology, such as quantum communication, computation, quantum sensing, metrology and can constitute the elements of future quantum networks. Due to its outstanding electrical, mechanical, and optical properties which extend to optical nonlinear properties, silicon carbide can also supply a more amenable platform for photonics devices with respect to other wide bandgap semiconductors, being already an unsurpassed material for high power microelectronics. In this review, we will summarize the current findings on this material color centers quantum properties such as quantum emission via optical and electrical excitation, optical spin polarization and coherent spin control and manipulation. Their fabrication methods are also summarized, showing the need for on-demand and nanometric control of the color centers fabrication location in the material. Their current applications in single-photon sources, quantum sensing of strain, magnetic and electric fields, spin-photon interface are also described. Finally, the efforts in the integration of these color centers in photonics devices and their fabrication challenges are described.

Color centers in diamond are important quantum emitters for a broad range of applications ranging from quantum sensing to quantum optics. Understanding the internal energy level structure is of fundamental importance for future applications. We experimentally investigate the level structure of an ensemble of few negatively charged silicon-vacancy (SiV−) and germanium-vacancy (GeV−) centers in bulk diamond at room temperature by photoluminescence (PL) and excitation (PLE) spectroscopy over a broad wavelength range from 460 to 650 nm and perform power-dependent saturation measurements. For SiV− our experimental results confirm the presence of a higher energy transition at ∼ 2.31 eV . By comparison with detailed theoretical simulations of the imaginary dielectric function we interpret the transition as a dipole-allowed transition from 2 E g -state to 2 A 2 u -state where the corresponding a2u-level lies deeply inside the diamond valence band. Therefore, the transition is broadened by the diamond band. At higher excitation power of 10 mW we indicate signs of a parity-conserving transition at ∼ 2.03 eV supported by saturation measurements. For GeV− we demonstrate that the PLE spectrum is in good agreement with the mirror image of the PL spectrum of the zero-phonon line. Experimentally we do not observe a higher lying energy level up to a transition wavelength of 460 nm . The observed PL spectra are identical, independent of excitation wavelength, suggesting a rapid decay to 2 E u excited state and followed by optical transition to 2 E g ground state. Our investigations convey important insights for future quantum optics and quantum sensing experiments based on SiV−-center and GeV−-center in diamond.

Colour centres in nanodiamonds are an important resource for applications in quantum sensing, biological imaging, and quantum optics. Here we report unprecedented narrow optical transitions for individual colour centres in nanodiamonds smaller than 200 nm. This demonstration has been achieved using the negatively charged silicon vacancy centre, which has recently received considerable attention due to its superb optical properties in bulk diamond. We have measured an ensemble of silicon-vacancy centres across numerous nanodiamonds to have an inhomogeneous distribution of 1.05 nm at 5 K. Individual spectral lines as narrower than 360 MHz were measured in photoluminescence excitation, and correcting for apparent spectral diffusion yielded an homogeneous linewidth of about 200 MHz which is close to the lifetime limit. These results indicate the high crystalline quality achieved in these nanodiamond samples, and advance the applicability of nanodiamond-hosted colour centres for quantum optics applications.

We report on the systematic characterization of the optical properties of diamond color centers based on Pb impurities. An ensemble photoluminescence analysis of their spectral emission was performed at different excitation wavelengths in the 405–520 nm range and at different temperatures in the 4–300 K range. The series of observed spectral features consist of different emission lines associated with Pb-related defects. Finally, a room-temperature investigation of single-photon emitters under 490.5 nm laser excitation is reported, revealing different spectral signatures with respect to those already reported under 514 nm excitation. This work represents a substantial progress with respect to previous studies on Pb-related color centers, both in the attribution of an articulated series of spectral features and in the understanding of the formation process of this type of defect, thus clarifying the potential of this system for high-impact applications in quantum technologies.

The recently demonstrated electroluminescence of color centers in diamond makes them one of the best candidates for room temperature single-photon sources. However, the reported emission rates are far off what can be achieved by state-of-the-art electrically driven epitaxial quantum dots. Since the electroluminescence mechanism has not yet been elucidated, it is not clear to what extent the emission rate can be increased. Here we develop a theoretical framework to study single-photon emission from color centers in diamond under electrical pumping. The proposed model comprises electron and hole trapping and releasing, transitions between the ground and excited states of the color center as well as structural transformations of the center due to carrier trapping. It provides the possibility to predict both the photon emission rate and the wavelength of emitted photons. Self-consistent numerical simulations of the single-photon emitting diode based on the proposed model show that the photon emission rate can be as high as 100 kcounts s−1 at standard conditions. In contrast to most optoelectronic devices, the emission rate steadily increases with the device temperature achieving of more than 100 Mcount s−1 at 500 K, which is highly advantageous for practical applications. These results demonstrate the potential of color centers in diamond as electrically driven non-classical light emitters and provide a foundation for the design and development of single-photon sources for optical quantum computation and quantum communication networks operating at room and higher temperatures.

Incorporating fluorescent quantum defects in the sidewalls of semiconducting single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) through chemical reaction is an emerging route to predictably modify nanotube electronic structures and develop advanced photonic functionality. Applications such as room-temperature single-photon emission and high-contrast bio-imaging have been advanced through aryl-functionalized SWCNTs, in which the binding configurations of the aryl group define the energies of the emitting states. However, the chemistry of binding with atomic precision at the single-bond level and tunable control over the binding configurations are yet to be achieved. Here, we explore recently reported photosynthetic protocol and find that it can control chemical binding configurations of quantum defects, which are often referred to as organic color centers, through the spin multiplicity of photoexcited intermediates. Specifically, photoexcited aromatics react with SWCNT sidewalls to undergo a singlet-state pathway in the presence of dissolved oxygen, leading to ortho binding configurations of the aryl group on the nanotube. In contrast, the oxygen-free photoreaction activates previously inaccessible para configurations through a triplet-state mechanism. These experimental results are corroborated by first principles simulations. Such spin-selective photochemistry diversifies SWCNT emission tunability by controlling the morphology of the emitting sites. Chemical functionalization of the sidewalls of single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) is an emerging route to introduce fluorescent quantum defects and tailor the emission properties. Here, authors demonstrate that spin-selective photochemistry diversifies SWCNT emission tunability by controlling the morphology of the emitting sites.

Individual, luminescent point defects in solids, so-called color centers, are atomic-sized quantum systems enabling sensing and imaging with nanoscale spatial resolution. In this overview, we introduce nanoscale sensing based on individual nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in diamond. We discuss two central challenges of the field: first, the creation of highly-coherent, shallow NV centers less than 10 nm below the surface of a single-crystal diamond; second, the fabrication of tip-like photonic nanostructures that enable efficient fluorescence collection and can be used for scanning probe imaging based on color centers with nanoscale resolution.

Color centers in solids, such as the nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond, offer well-protected and well-controlled localized electron spins that can be employed in various quantum technologies. Moreover, the long coherence time of the surrounding spinful nuclei can enable a robust quantum register controlled through the color center. We design pulse sequence protocols that drive the electron spin to generate robust entangling gates with these nuclear memory qubits. We find that compared to using Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill (CPMG) alone, Uhrig decoupling sequence and hybrid protocols composed of CPMG and Uhrig sequences improve these entangling gates in terms of fidelity, spin control range, and spin selectivity. We provide analytical expressions for the sequence protocols and also show numerically the efficacy of our method on nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond. Our results are broadly applicable to color centers weakly coupled to a small number of nuclear spin qubits.

This research work focuses on investigating the darkening phenomenon in soda-lime glasses caused by the formation of color centers when exposed to infrared femtosecond laser radiation. The study examines the kinetics of color center generation and thermal relaxation, with a particular emphasis on the influence of storage temperature. Additionally, the changes in transmittance and refractive index values of darkened glass were measured based on different laser processing parameters. The darkening process can be utilized for the creation of halftone monochrome images for decorative purposes. The study also discusses the achievable contrast values and their degradation over time. Our findings were supported by direct laser writing of an image into the glass volume, highlighting their practical interest.

Nitrogen‐vacancy (NV) centers in diamonds are one of the most promising systems for quantum technologies, including quantum metrology and sensing. A promising strategy for the achievement of high sensitivity to external fields relies on the exploitation of large ensembles of NV centers, whose fabrication by ion implantation is upper limited by the amount of radiation damage introduced in the diamond lattice. In this work an approach is demonstrated to increase the density of NV centers upon the high‐fluence implantation of MeV N2+ ions on a hot target substrate (>550 °C). The results show that with respect to room‐temperature implantation, the high‐temperature process increases the vacancy density threshold required for the irreversible conversion of diamond to a graphitic phase, thus enabling to achieve higher density ensembles. Furthermore, the formation efficiency of color centers is investigated on diamond substrates implanted at varying temperatures with MeV N2+ and Mg+ ions revealing that the formation efficiency of both NV centers and magnesium‐vacancy (MgV) centers increases with the implantation temperature. In this work we demonstrate an increase of the density of color centers upon the high‐fluence implantation of MeV N and Mg ions on a hot diamond substrate (>550 °C). Further the results show that, with respect to room‐temperature implantation, the high‐temperature process increases the vacancy density threshold required for the irreversible conversion of diamond to a graphitic phase.