Controlling single diamond NV color center photoluminescence spectrum with a Fabry-Perot microcavity

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how a low-Q microcavity can enhance and narrow the fluorescence spectrum of a single diamond NV center, improving collection efficiency and spectral density at room temperature.

Contribution

It provides both theoretical and experimental evidence that microcavities can control and enhance the photoluminescence of single NV centers in diamond.

Findings

Enhanced fluorescence collection efficiency with microcavity.

Narrowed emission spectrum at room temperature.

Increased spectral density of emitted light.

Abstract

We present both theoretical and experimental results on fluorescence of single defect centers in diamond nanocrystals embedded in a planar dielectric microcavity. From a theoretical point of view, we show that the overall fluorescence collection efficiency using moderate numerical aperture microscope objective can be enhanced by using a low quality factor microcavity. This could be used in particular for low temperature applications where the numerical aperture of collection microscope objectives is limited due to the experimental constraints. We experimentally investigate the control of the fluorescence spectrum of the emitted light from a single center. We show the simultaneous narrowing of the room temperature broadband emission spectrum and the increase of the fluorescence spectral density.