Room temperature triggered single-photon source in the near infrared

E. Wu (1, 2) , James Rabeau (3) , Gérard Roger (4) , François Treussart (1) , Heping Zeng (2) , Philippe Grangier (4) , Steven Prawer (5) , Jean-François Roch (1)

1 LPQM - Laboratoire de Photonique Quantique et Moléculaire
2 Key Laboratory of Optical and Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
3 Department of Physics
4 Laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique / Optique quantique
5 School of Physics, Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computer Technology

We report the realization of a solid-state triggered single-photon source with narrow emission in the near infrared at room temperature. It is based on the photoluminescence of a single nickel-nitrogen NE8 colour centre in a chemical vapour deposited diamond nanocrystal. Stable single-photon emission has been observed in the photoluminescence under both continuous-wave and pulsed excitations. The realization of this source represents a step forward in the application of diamond-based single-photon sources to Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) under practical operating conditions.

Domaines: Physique Quantique [quant-ph]; Optique [physics.optics]

E. Wu, James Rabeau, Gérard Roger, François Treussart, Heping Zeng, et al.. Room temperature triggered single-photon source in the near infrared. New Journal of Physics, 2007, 9, pp.434. ⟨10.1088/1367-2630/9/12/434⟩. ⟨hal-00167036v2⟩