Polarization dynamics of solid-state quantum emitters

A. Kumar et al., Polarization dynamics of solid-state quantum emitters

Quantum emitters in solid-state crystals have recently attracted a lot of attention due to their simple applicability in optical quantum technologies. The polarization of single photons generated by quantum emitters is one of the key parameters that play a crucial role in the applications, such as quantum computation that uses the indistinguishability of photons. However, the degree of single photon polarization is typically quantified using time-averaged photoluminescence intensity of single emitters, which provides limited information about the dipole properties in solids. In this work, we use single defects in hexagonal boron nitride and nanodiamond as efficient room-temperature single photon sources to reveal the origin and the temporal evolution of dipole orientation in solid-state quantum emitters. The angle of excitation and emission dipoles relative to the crystal axes are determined experimentally and then calculated using density functional theory, which results in characteristic angles for every specific defect that can be used as an efficient tool for defect identification and understanding their atomic structure. Moreover, the temporal polarization dynamics reveal a strongly modified linear polarization visibility that depends on the excited state decay time of individual excitation. This effect can be traced back potentially to the excitation of excess charges in the local crystal environment. Understanding such hidden time-dependent mechanisms can further be used to improve the performance of polarization-sensitive experiments, in particular that of quantum communication with single photon emitters. We, therefore, provide a promising pathway for the identification of color centers as well as important insight into the dynamics of solid-state quantum emitters in general.

(preprint at arXiv:2303.04732; published at https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acsnano.3c08940)

This supplementary file contains the properties of defect candidates, which include ZPL, excitation and emission polarization, polarization misalignment, and linear polarization visibility to support the findings in the paper.

Questions regarding this dataset should be sent to the corresponding authors.