Hybrid Diamond-Silicon Carbide Color Center Photonics

Diamond color centers are excellent quantum emitters for applications in quantum and classical optical networks. However, the incorporation of diamond color centers into photonic devices with arbitrary geometry has been an outstanding challenge. Interfacing diamond with cubic silicon carbide (3C-SiC) grown on a silicon wafer is a promising hybrid approach to this problem. Not only do silicon carbide optical properties resemble diamond’s, but the underlying silicon can be undercut to realize freestanding designs. We utilize chemical vapor deposition and reactive ion etching to incorporate color center-rich nanodiamond with fabricated silicon carbide microdisk resonators. The process is scalable and features a preferential positioning of emitters relative to the resonant mode needed to achieve Purcell enhancement. We demonstrate up to a five-fold resonant enhancement of diamond silicon-vacancy and chromium-related color center emission.