Bright Single-Photon Emitters in Cubic Silicon Carbide

Single-photon emitters (SPEs) are critical to the realization of various applications, including quantum information technology, quantum sensing, and quantum communication. As stable and bright SPEs, point defects in wide bandgap semiconductors are compatible with existing well-matured semiconductor technologies, making integration with semiconductor devices very simple. Here we report SPEs in cubic silicon carbide (3C-SiC) emitting in the visible range. The emitters can be excited stably by a green laser at ambient temperature and have stable photoluminescence (PL) intensity reaching up to 245 × 10³ counts per second (cps). In experiments, the degree of linear polarization of both excitation and emission can reach 80%. Together with the fact that silicon carbide (SiC) is a material that is easy to grow and fabricate, these properties show the advantage and prospect of SPEs in SiC for applications in quantum networks.