Silicon Carbide Metasurfaces for Controlling the Spontaneous Emission of Embedded Color Centers

Abstract

While electric and magnetic dipolar resonances in SiC have been studied in the far-infrared, they have not been studied in the near infrared. Here we show for the first time that electromagnetic Mie-scattering moments within SiC metasurfaces can control the spontaneous emission process of point defects in the near infrared. Using SiC nanopillars based metasurfaces, we theoretically demonstrate a control over the spontaneous emission rate of embedded color-centers by using the coherent superposition of the electric dipolar and magnetic quadrupolar electromagnetic Mie-scattering moments of the structure. More than an order of magnitude emission/decay rate enhancement is obtained with the maximum enhancement close to 30. We also demonstrate that the relative phase of the Mie-scattering moments helps in controlling the emission directionality. SiC metasurfaces in the spectral range of color centres, from the visible to the near infrared, can be used to control the confinement and directionality of their spontaneous emission, increasing the opportunities to study light-matter interaction and to advance quantum photonic and quantum sensing device integration.