nature physics
Superradiant emission from colour centres in diamond
Andreas Angerer1,
Kirill Streltsov ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2960-70121 nAff8,
Thomas Astner1,
Stefan Putz ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4169-25521 nAff9,
Hitoshi Sumiya2,
Shinobu Onoda3,
Junichi Isoya ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-9598-625X4,
William J. Munro ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1835-22505,6,
Kae Nemoto6,
Jörg Schmiedmayer ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7799-56141 &
Johannes Majer1,7
Nature Physics volume 14, pages 1168–1172 (2018)Cite this article
Superradiance is a fundamental collective effect where radiation is amplified by the coherence of multiple emitters1. Superradiance plays a prominent role in optics (where it enables the design of lasers with substantially reduced linewidths2,3) and quantum mechanics4, and is even used to explain cosmological observations such as Hawking radiation from black holes5. Resonators coupled to spin ensembles6,7,8 are promising future building blocks of integrated quantum devices that will involve superradiance. As such, it is important to study its fundamental properties within such devices. Although experiments in the strong-coupling regime have shown oscillatory behaviour in these systems9,10, a clear signature of Dicke superradiance has so far been missing. Here we explore superradiance in a system composed of a three-dimensional lumped element resonator in the fast cavity limit inductively coupled to an inhomogeneously broadened ensemble of nitrogen–vacancy centres. We observe a superradiant pulse being emitted a trillion times faster than the decay for an individual nitrogen–vacancy centre. This is further confirmed by the nonlinear scaling of the emitted radiation intensity with respect to the ensemble size. Our work provides the foundation for future quantum technologies including solid-state superradiant masers2.
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Fig. 1: Experimental setup.
Fig. 2: Cavity response under varying drive powers.
Fig. 3: Dynamics of the superradiant decay.
Fig. 4: Nonlinear scaling of the emitted radiation intensity.
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We would like to thank D. Krimer, M. Zens, S. Rotter and H. Ritsch for discussions and G. Wachter for help with the setup of the laser system. The experimental effort has been supported by the Top-/Anschubfinanzierung grant of the TU Wien and the JTF project "The Nature of Quantum Networks" (ID 60478). A.A. and T.A. acknowledge support by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) in the framework of the Doctoral School "Building Solids for Function" Project W1243. K.N. acknowledges support from the MEXT KAKENHI Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas "Science of Hybrid Quantum Systems" no. 15H05870. J.I. acknowledges support by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI grant no. 26220903 and grant no. 17H02751. J.S. acknowledges financial support from the Wiener Wissenschafts- und TechnologieFonds (WWTF) project No MA16-066 ("SEQUEX").
Kirill Streltsov
Present address: Institute for Theoretical Physics, Universität Ulm, Ulm, Germany
Stefan Putz
Present address: Department of Physics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology, Atominstitut, TU Wien, Vienna, Austria
Andreas Angerer, Kirill Streltsov, Thomas Astner, Stefan Putz, Jörg Schmiedmayer & Johannes Majer
Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd., Itami, Japan
Hitoshi Sumiya
National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology, Takasaki, Japan
Shinobu Onoda
Research Centre for Knowledge Communities, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan
Junichi Isoya
NTT Basic Research Laboratories, NTT Corporation, Atsugi, Japan
William J. Munro
National Institute of Informatics, Hitotsubashi, Tokyo, Japan
William J. Munro & Kae Nemoto
Wolfgang Pauli Institute c/o Faculty of Mathematics, Universität Wien, Vienna, Austria
Johannes Majer
Andreas Angerer
Thomas Astner
Kae Nemoto
Jörg Schmiedmayer
A.A., S.P., T.A., J.S. and J.M designed and set up the experiment. A.A. and K.S. carried out the measurements under the supervision of J.M. W.J.M. and K.N provided the theoretical framework. J.I., S.O. and H.S. characterized and provided the diamond sample. A.A. wrote the manuscript, to which all authors suggested improvements.
Correspondence to Andreas Angerer or Johannes Majer.
Angerer, A., Streltsov, K., Astner, T. et al. Superradiant emission from colour centres in diamond. Nature Phys 14, 1168–1172 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-018-0269-7
Accepted: 27 July 2018
Issue Date: December 2018
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Nature Physics (Nat. Phys.) ISSN 1745-2481 (online) ISSN 1745-2473 (print)