Integrated angstrom-tunable polarization-resolved solid-state photon sources

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel integrated platform combining quantum emitter metasurfaces with MEMS technology, enabling dynamic, multi-degree control of solid-state photon sources including spectral narrowing, wavelength tuning, and polarization switching at room temperature.

Contribution

The work presents a new MEMS-QEMS platform that achieves wide-range, high-resolution tunability and polarization control of solid-state photon sources on-chip, surpassing previous limitations.

Findings

Narrowed nanodiamond emission to 3.7 nm at room temperature

Achieved wavelength tuning with angstrom resolution

Demonstrated polarization switching within sub-millisecond timescales

Abstract

The development of high-quality solid-state photon sources is essential to nano optics, quantum photonics, and related fields. A key objective of this research area is to develop tunable photon sources that not only enhance the performance but also offer dynamic functionalities. However, the realization of compact and robust photon sources with precise and wide range tunability remains a long-standing challenge. Moreover, the lack of an effective approach to integrate nanoscale photon sources with dynamic systems has hindered tunability beyond mere spectral adjustments, such as simultaneous polarization control. Here we propose a platform based on quantum emitter (QE) embedded metasurfaces (QEMS) integrated with a microelectromechanical system (MEMS)-positioned microcavity, enabling on-chip multi-degree control of solid-state photon sources. Taking advantages of MEMS-QEMS, we show that typically broadband room-temperature emission from nanodiamonds containing nitrogen-vacancy centres can be narrowed to 3.7 nm and dynamically tuned with angstrom resolution. Furthermore, we design a wavelength-polarization-multiplexed QEMS and demonstrate polarization-resolved control of the MEMS-QEMS emission in a wide wavelength range (650 nm to 700 nm) along with polarization switching at sub-millisecond timescales. We believe that the proposed MEMS-QEMS platform can be adapted for most existing QEs, significantly expanding their room-temperature capabilities and thereby enhancing their potential for advanced photonic applications.