Single germanium vacancy centres in nanodiamonds with bulk-like spectral stability

Abstract

Motivated by the success of group IV colour centres in nanodiamonds (NDs) for hybrid technology requiring a single photon source, we study single germanium-vacancy (GeV${}^{-}$) centres in NDs at room temperature with size rangingfrom 10 to 50 nm and with remarkable spectral properties. We characterize their zero-phonon line (ZPL), study their internal population dynamics and compare their emission properties in the framework of a three level model with intensity dependent de-shelving. Furthermore, we characterize their lifetime, polarization and brightness. We find amaximum photon emission count rate of 1.6 MHz at saturation. We also report a polarization visibility of 92% from the fluorescence light, which potentially makes GeV${}^{-}$ centres good candidates for quantum key distribution (QKD)requiring polarized single photons. We show that the GeV${}^{-}$ in NDs presented in this work have a comparable spectral stability compared to their bulk counterpart which is needed for future applications using NDs.

7 pages, 5 figures

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• Quantum Computing
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• Coherent microwave, optical, and mechanical quantum control of spin qubits in diamond
• Enhanced Spectral Density of a Single Germanium Vacancy Center in a Nanodiamond by Cavity-Integration
• Sub-to-super-Poissonian photon statistics in cathodoluminescence of color center ensembles in isolated diamond crystals
• A comprehensive study of the effect of thermally induced surface terminations on nanodiamonds electrical properties
• Spectral emission dependence of tin-vacancy centers in diamond from thermal processing and chemical functionalization