New research integrates silicon photonics with silicon carbide

Quantum photonics is a rapidly growing field in which researchers look for ways to control single photons in order to develop quantum technologies. To create quantum networks, it is important that emitters produce indistinguishable photons. One way to achieve this is by using on-chip photonic devices made from silicon carbide, because it provides localized quantum emitters in the form of color centers.

Currently, the most commonly used material for photonics is silicon. However, it is challenging to integrate silicon carbide quantum emitters within a silicon-compatible platform. Wang et al developed a hybrid on-chip photonic device that integrates crystalline silicon ring resonators on top of silicon carbide.

“This is the enabling step that will lead to the development of quantum networks based on silicon photonics,” said author Andrei Faraon.

The group used wet etching to detach a membrane of crystalline silicon from a silicon-on-oxide chip. Once the membrane dried, it adhered to the silicon carbide substrate.

“A quantum memory takes photons and stores them into different media,” said Faraon. “In our case, we are interested in storing this in silicon carbide defects that interact with light.”

The resulting on-chip photonic device will be useful for quantum light matter interfaces, where it would hold quantum information over long periods of time and, more importantly, store the information with high fidelity.

Researchers are looking to focusing efforts on improving the fabrication process and quality of photonic devices.

“In the future, we will migrate to photonic crystals, which can achieve better performance than ring resonators,” said Faraon.

Source: “Hybrid silicon on silicon carbide integrated photonics platform,” by Chuting Wang, Evan Miyazono, Ioana Craicu, and Andrei Faraon, Applied Physics Letters (2019). The article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5116201 .