Bright and photostable single-photon emitter in silicon carbide

Single-photon sources are of paramount importance in quantum communication, quantum computation, and quantum metrology. In particular, there is great interest in realizing scalable solid-state platforms that can emit triggered photons on demand to achieve scalable nanophotonic networks. We report on a visible-spectrum single-photon emitter in 4H silicon carbide (SiC). The emitter is photostable at room and low temperatures, enabling photon counts per second in excess of 2 x 10(6) from unpatterned bulk SiC. It exists in two orthogonally polarized states, which have parallel absorption and emission dipole orientations. Low-temperature measurements reveal a narrow zero phonon line (linewidth <0.1 nm) that accounts for > 30% of the total photoluminescence spectrum. (C) 2016 Optical Society of America