Transmission electron micrograph of diamond nanobeam. False color highlights single crystal diamond (green) and amorphous carbon material (yellow). Inset shows atomic-resolution diffraction fringes from the diamond lattice. Total scale is roughly five nanometers. TEM performed by Mark Polking.
Panoramic photograph of our lab in LISE B00. This is our older lab where we perform some of our low temperature optical characterization. The optical table is on the left (with a liquid helium dewar to the far left) and the control computers are on the right. The back of the room has several electronics racks for data acquisition.
Panoramic photograph of our lab in LISE B16. The optical table on the left is our next-generation setup for cryogenic optical microscopy. The optical table on the right is our fully-automated room-temperature characterization setup.
To achieve high-quality color centers in diamond, we need to anneal the diamond at extremely high temperatures so that defects in the diamond are destroyed (See Chu et al. Nano Letters 2014). This is an image of our new Ultra-high vacuum furnace that can reach temperatures of above 1750 degrees Celsius at pressures in the 10-9 Torr range.
We make our hybrid nanocavities in three steps. First, we make a diamond nanobeam. Next, we find the color centers inside the nanobeam and carefully record their positions. Then we make a polymer photonic crystal cavity around these color centers.
This is an early example of one of our cryogenic sample mounts. The sample mount is gold-plated copper for maximum thermal conductivity. A sapphire chip sits atop the sample mount and has pads for making microwave connections. Two curved stainless steel clamps hold down the sapphire chip and a thermometer (on the right) without obscuring optical access. All of these components were made by me or my coworkers.
In the past, we have used Janis ST-500 flow-through cryostats for our cryogenic optical measurements. These systems generally work well, but don't have much room for additional expansion. To solve some of these problems, we use a LakeShore probe station (pictured) that has been heavily modified to allow for high-magnification optical microscopy.
Clockwise from top left: photograph of a diamond sample mounted in our cryostat. Scanning electron micrograph of the diamond chip, illustrating scalability of our fabrication scheme. Increased magnification showing an individual nanobeam. Transmission electron micrograph of a single nanobeam, illustrating ten-nanometer scale surface roughness.
False-color scanning electron micrograph of a hybrid optical nanocavity created by fabricating polymer slabs (pink) around a triangular nanobeam waveguide (blue). The approximate dimensions are 5 x 40 microns.
False-color scanning electron micrograph of hybrid optical nanocavities created by fabricating polymer slabs (pink) around a triangular nanobeam waveguide (blue). The image is taken at an angle; the approximate dimensions are 50 x 50 microns.
Panoramic photograph of our lab in LISE B16. The small optical table to the left houses our lasers. The optical table on the right has our next-generation cryogenic optical microscope. A room temperature microscope is on the optical table in the back of the image.
