Color centers are fluorescent crystalline defects found in semiconductor materials. Isolated individually using advanced optical microscopy techniques, these ‘artificial atoms’ trapped in the crystal emit single photons one at a time. Furthermore, some of these color centers exhibit a quantum degree of freedom linked to spin that can be accessed and controlled optically. Recently, the team showed that silicon, the flagship material in microelectronics, hosts a large number of color centers that can be isolated at the single-defect scale optically. In addition to being inside the ideal platform for large-scale integrated quantum photonics, these defects emit single photons at wavelengths used for optical-fiber based telecommunications.

Our research aims to understand and control the photonic and spin quantum properties of individual color centers in silicon. On the one hand, we are exploring the control of optical emission from individual color centers to achieve the regime of indistinguishable photons. On the other hand, we are studying the coherent manipulation of the spin states of single defects in order to create memory qubits interfaced with single telecom photons in this key material for industry.