Quantum emitters are key for a range of technologies including LEDs, lasers and, in particular, photonic quantum communication and computation protocols. So far, scientists have turned to diamond and silicon carbide (SiC) to develop single photon sources on account of their wide band gap and excellent optical properties. However, the shortcomings of these semiconductors are highlighted by attempts to manipulate and route this kind of quantum emission in an integrated fashion to create scalable systems.
Now Tsung-Ju Lu and Benjamin Lienhard, and a team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and City University of New York in the U.S., led by MIT's Dirk Englund, have produced quantum emitters in a III-V semiconductor, aluminum nitride (AlN). AIN is already well established in the optoelectronics and high-voltage electronics industry. By patterning the AlN with the quantum emitters embedded, they were able to integrate the emitters directly into a photonic circuit.
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