Spectrally reconfigurable quantum emitters enabled by optimized fast modulation

The ability to shape photon emission facilitates strong photon-mediated interactions between disparate physical systems, thereby enabling applications in quantum information processing, simulation and communication. Spectral control in solid state platforms such as color centers, rare earth ions, and quantum dots is particularly attractive for realizing such applications on-chip. Here we propose the use of frequency-modulated optical transitions for spectral engineering of single photon emission. Using a scattering-matrix formalism, we find that a two-level system, when modulated faster than its optical lifetime, can be treated as a single-photon source with a widely reconfigurable photon spectrum that is amenable to standard numerical optimization techniques. To enable the experimental demonstration of this spectral control scheme, we investigate the Stark tuning properties of the silicon vacancy in silicon carbide, a color center with promise for optical quantum information processing technologies. We find that the silicon vacancy possesses excellent spectral stability and tuning characteristics, allowing us to probe its fast modulation regime, observe the theoretically-predicted two-photon correlations, and demonstrate spectral engineering. Our results suggest that frequency modulation is a powerful technique for the generation of new light states with unprecedented control over the spectral and temporal properties of single photons.Funding Agencies|U.S. Department of Energy, Office of ScienceUnited States Department of Energy (DOE) [DE-SC0019174, DE-Ac02-76SF00515]; National Science FoundationNational Science Foundation (NSF) [ECCS-1542152, 1839056]; Herb and Jane Dwight SGF; NSF Graduate Research FellowshipNational Science Foundation (NSF); Kailath Graduate Fellowship; Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsradet)Swedish Research Council [VR 2016-04068]; Swedish Energy AgencySwedish Energy Agency [43611-1]; EU H2020 project QuanTELCO [862721]; Knut and Alice Wallenberg FoundationKnut & Alice Wallenberg Foundation [KAW 2018.0071]; JSPS KAKENHIMinistry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT)Japan Society for the Promotion of ScienceGrants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI) [17H01056, 18H03770]; European Research Council (ERC) grant SMelEuropean Research Council (ERC); European Commission Marie Curie ETN "QuSCo" [765267]; Max Planck SocietyMax Planck SocietyFoundation CELLEX; Humboldt FoundationAlexander von Humboldt Foundation; German Science FoundationGerman Research Foundation (DFG) [SPP 1601]; EU-FET Flagship on Quantum Technologies through the project ASTERIQS; Andreas Bechtolsheim SGF; Microsoft Research PhD Fellowship; Fong Stanford Graduate Fellowship (SGF); National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship