L-band single-photon generation from a cavity-coupled silicon C-center
Abstract
Monolithic integration of single-photon sources into silicon photonics offers a compelling solution for realizing scalable quantum telecommunication architectures. Among the candidate silicon color centers, the C-center features a zero-phonon emission in the telecom L-band, corresponding to the spectral window of minimum transmission loss in optical fibers. Despite this advantage, isolating single C-centers has remained an unrealized challenge in solid-state quantum optics. In this work, we report the isolation of a single silicon C-center. We enhance the spontaneous emission rate of the zero-phonon line by coupling the single emitter to a nanophotonic crystal cavity, observing a fivefold reduction in the excited-state lifetime compared to bulk conditions, which corresponds to a Purcell factor lower bound of 33. Second-order autocorrelation measurements confirm single-photon emission from the investigated defect, obtaining an optical purity of g(2)(0) = 0.23 without background correction. Our results establish a native telecom L-band quantum light source in silicon, laying the foundation for ultra-low-loss and long-distance quantum applications.
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BibTeX
@misc{crosta2026lband,
title = {{L-band single-photon generation from a cavity-coupled silicon C-center}},
author = {Carolina Crosta and Kyu-Young Kim and Purbita Purkayastha and Abhijit Biswas and Jasvith Raj Basani and Amirehsan Alizadehherfati and Amirehsan Boreiri and Chang-Min Lee and Fabio Pezzoli and Edo Waks},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.37244},
eprint = {2609.37244},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.37244},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - L-band single-photon generation from a cavity-coupled silicon C-center
AU - Carolina Crosta
AU - Kyu-Young Kim
AU - Purbita Purkayastha
AU - Abhijit Biswas
AU - Jasvith Raj Basani
AU - Amirehsan Alizadehherfati
AU - Amirehsan Boreiri
AU - Chang-Min Lee
AU - Fabio Pezzoli
AU - Edo Waks
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/29
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.37244
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.37244
AB - Monolithic integration of single-photon sources into silicon photonics offers a compelling solution for realizing scalable quantum telecommunication architectures. Among the candidate silicon color centers, the C-center features a zero-phonon emission in the telecom L-band, corresponding to the spectral window of minimum transmission loss in optical fibers. Despite this advantage, isolating single C-centers has remained an unrealized challenge in solid-state quantum optics. In this work, we report the isolation of a single silicon C-center. We enhance the spontaneous emission rate of the zero-phonon line by coupling the single emitter to a nanophotonic crystal cavity, observing a fivefold reduction in the excited-state lifetime compared to bulk conditions, which corresponds to a Purcell factor lower bound of 33. Second-order autocorrelation measurements confirm single-photon emission from the investigated defect, obtaining an optical purity of g^(2)(0) = 0.23 without background correction. Our results establish a native telecom L-band quantum light source in silicon, laying the foundation for ultra-low-loss and long-distance quantum applications.
ER -