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Laser-Induced Spectral Diffusion and Excited-State Mixing of Silicon T Centers

Camille Bowness1,2,*, Simon A. Meynell1,2,*, Michael Dobinson1,2, Chloe Clear2, Kais Jooya1,2, Nicholas Brunelle1,2, Mehdi Keshavarz1,2, Katarina Boos3, Melanie Gascoine1,2 et al.

Shahrzad Taherizadegan4,5, Christoph Simon4,5, Mike L.W. Thewalt1, Stephanie Simmons1,2, and Daniel B. Higginbottom1,2,†

  • 1Department of Physics, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6
  • 2Photonic Inc., Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada V3K 6T1
  • 3Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Munich Center for Quantum Science and Technology (MCQST), Walter Schottky Institut, Technische Universität München, 85748 Garching, Germany
  • 4Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4
  • 5Institute for Quantum Science and Technology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Contact author: daniel_higginbottom@sfu.ca
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PRX Quantum 6, 030350 – Published 16 September, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/9dxr-gfqf

Abstract

To find practical application as photon sources for entangled optical-resource states or as spin-photon interfaces in entangled networks, semiconductor emitters must produce indistinguishable photons with high efficiency and spectral stability. Nanophotonic cavity integration increases efficiency and bandwidth but it also introduces environmental charge instability and spectral diffusion. Among various candidates, silicon color centers have emerged as compelling platforms for integrated-emitter quantum technologies. Here, we investigate the dynamics of spectral wandering in nanophotonics-coupled individual silicon T centers using spectral correlation measurements. We observe that spectral fluctuations are driven predominantly by the near-infrared excitation laser, consistent with a power-dependent Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process, and we show that the spectrum is stable for up to 1.5ms in the dark. We demonstrate a factor-of-35 narrowing of the emitter linewidth to 110MHz using a resonance-check scheme and discuss the advantage for pairwise entanglement rates and optical-resource-state generators. Finally, we report laser-induced spin mixing in the excited state and discuss potential mechanisms common to both phenomena. These effects must be considered in calibrating T-center devices for high-performance entanglement generation.

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Popular Summary

Integrated emitters are appealing as sources of single photons for quantum communication and interfaces for entangling photons with long-lived spin qubits for quantum networking. By integrating emitters with nanophotonic cavities, the emission rate and optical coherence can be increased by orders of magnitude. However, the proximity to interfaces and material defects introduced during nanofabrication causes the emission frequency to drift in time; so-called “spectral wandering.” Spectral wandering reduces the emission rate, coherence, and entanglement rate of integrated emitter devices. In this work, we investigate the physical mechanisms of spectral wandering in the silicon T center: a relatively new emitter for quantum technologies that combines emission in a low-loss telecommunications band with seconds-long spin coherence.

We demonstrate that the spectral wandering of the T center is primarily driven by the excitation laser and that wandering is more than 100 times slower when the emitter is kept dark. This enables a “resonance-check” scheme for mitigating spectral wandering that reduces the effective emitter linewidth by a factor of 35 and remains stable for milliseconds.

Our results clarify mechanisms behind spectral wandering and related spin mixing effects and may translate to orders-of-magnitude improvements in T-center spin-spin and spin-photon entanglement rates for a wide range of technologically relevant applications, including multiphoton optical resource states and spin-photon quantum computing.

See Also

Laser-Induced Spectral Diffusion of T Centers in Silicon Nanophotonic Devices

Xueyue Zhang, Niccolò Fiaschi, Lukasz Komza, Hanbin Song, Thomas Schenkel, and Alp Sipahigil
PRX Quantum 6, 030351 (2025)

Article Text

Supplemental Material

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PRX Quantum 6, 030350– Published 16 September, 2025
  • Received 18 April 2025
  • Revised 21 July 2025
  • Accepted 12 August 2025
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