Strongly enhanced photon collection from diamond defect centres under micro-fabricated integrated solid immersion lenses

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J. P. Hadden, J. P. Harrison, A. C. Stanley-Clarke, Luca Marseglia, Y-L. D. Ho, B. R. Patton, J. L. O'Brien, J. G. Rarity

Centre for Quantum Photonics, University of Bristol

Abstract. The efficiency of collecting photons from optically active defect centres in bulk diamond is greatly reduced by refraction and reflection at the diamond-air interface. We report on the fabrication and measurement of a geometrical solution to the problem; integrated solid immersion lenses (SILs) etched directly into the surface of diamond. An increase of a factor of 10 was observed in the saturated count-rate from a single negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV-) within a 5 &mu m diameter SIL compared with NV-s under a planar surface in the same crystal. A factor of 3 reduction in background emission was also observed due to the reduced excitation volume with a SIL present. Such a system is potentially scalable and easily adaptable to other defect centres in bulk diamond. .

Keywords: N-V center, quantum computing, solid immersion lenses, cavity quantum electrodynamics

BibTeX Record:

@Article{Hadden10,
  author       = {J.P. Hadden},
  title        = {Strongly enhanced photon collection from diamond defect centres under micro-fabricated integrated solid immersion lenses}
  institution  = {Centre for Quantum Photonics, University of Bristol},
  year         = 2010,
  type         = {Appl. Phys. Lett. 97, 241901}
}