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Silicon vacancy (V$_{Si}$) centers in 4H-silicon carbide have emerged as a strong candidate for quantum networking applications due to their robust electronic and optical properties including a long spin coherence lifetime and bright, stable emission. Here, we report the integration of V$_{Si}$ centers with a plasmonic nanocavity to Purcell enhance the emission, which is critical for scalable quantum networking. Employing a simple fabrication process, we demonstrate plasmonic cavities that support a nanoscale mode volume and exhibit an increase in the spontaneous emission rate with a measured Purcell factor of up to 48. In addition to investigating the optical resonance modes, we demonstrate that an improvement in the optical stability of the spin-preserving resonant optical transitions relative to the radiation-limited value. The results highlight the potential of nanophotonic structures for advancing quantum networking technologies and emphasizes the importance of optimizing emitter-cavity interactions for efficient quantum photonic applications., Comment: 27 pages in manuscript format including supplement

We demonstrate the integration of a thin BaTiO$_3$ (BTO) membrane with monolayer MoSe$_2$ in a dual gate device that enables in-situ manipulation of the BTO ferroelectric polarization with a voltage pulse. While two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) offer remarkable adaptability, their hybrid integration with other families of functional materials beyond the realm of 2D materials has been challenging. Released functional oxide membranes offer a solution for 2D/3D integration via stacking. 2D TMD excitons can serve as a local probe of the ferroelectric polarization in BTO at a heterogeneous interface. Using photoluminescence (PL) of MoSe$_2$ excitons to optically readout the doping level, we find that the relative population of charge carriers in MoSe$_2$ depends sensitively on the ferroelectric polarization. This finding points to a promising avenue for future-generations versatile sensing devices with high sensitivity, fast read-out, and diverse applicability for advanced signal processing., Comment: 14 pages with supplementary information in manuscript format

Optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) is an efficient mechanism to readout the spin of solid-state color centers at room temperature, thus enabling spin-based quantum sensors of magnetic field, electric field, and temperature with high sensitivity and broad commercial applicability. The mechanism of room temperature ODMR is based on spin-dependent relaxation between the optically excited states to the ground states, and thus it is an intrinsic property of a defect center. In this work we report that two distinct defect types exist in GaN based on their ODMR signatures. One group has small negative ODMR based on a spin in a metastable state. The second group has large (up to $\sim$30\%) positive ODMR contrast based on ground-state spin. Because GaN is a mature semiconductor with well-developed electronic technologies already developed, this defect platform is promising for integrated quantum sensing applications., Comment: 16 pages including supplemental information. 4 main text figures and 8 supplemental figures

In most single-photon defect emitters, such as those in SiC and diamond, interaction with low-energy acoustic phonons determines the temperature dependence of the decoherence rate and the resulting broadening of the ZPL with the temperature obeys a power law. GaN hosts bright and stable single-photon emitters in the 600 nm to 700 nm wavelength range with strong ZPLs even at room temperature. In this work, we study the temperature dependence of the ZPL spectra of GaN SPEs integrated with solid immersion lenses with the goal of understanding the relevant decoherence mechanisms. At temperatures below ~50 K, the ZPL lineshape is found to be Gaussian and the ZPL linewidth is temperature independent and dominated by spectral diffusion. Above ~50 K, the linewidth increases monotonically with the temperature and the lineshape evolves into a Lorentzian. Quite remarkably, the temperature dependence of the linewidth does not follow a power law. We propose a model in which decoherence caused by absorption/emission of optical phonons in an elastic Raman process determines the temperature dependence of the lineshape and the linewidth. Our model explains the temperature dependence of the ZPL linewidth and lineshape in the entire 10 K to 270 K temperature range explored in this work. The ~19 meV optical phonon energy extracted by fitting the model to the data matches remarkably well the ~18 meV zone center energy of the lowest optical phonon band (E2(low)) in GaN. Our work sheds light on the mechanisms responsible for linewidth broadening in GaN SPEs. Since a low energy optical phonon band (E2(low)) is a feature of most group III-V nitrides with a wurtzite crystal structure, including hBN and AlN, we expect our proposed mechanism to play an important role in defect emitters in these materials as well., Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures

The recently discovered spin-active boron vacancy (V$_\text{B}^-$) defect center in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) has high contrast optically-detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) at room-temperature, with a spin-triplet ground-state that shows promise as a quantum sensor. Here we report temperature-dependent ODMR spectroscopy to probe spin within the orbital excited-state. Our experiments determine the excited-state spin Hamiltonian, including a room-temperature zero-field splitting of 2.1 GHz and a g-factor similar to that of the ground-state. We confirm that the resonance is associated with spin rotation in the excited-state using pulsed ODMR measurements, and we observe Zeeman-mediated level anti-crossings in both the orbital ground- and excited-state. Our observation of a single set of excited-state spin-triplet resonance from 10 to 300 K is consistent with an orbital-singlet, which has consequences for understanding the symmetry of this defect. Additionally, the excited-state ODMR has strong temperature dependence of both contrast and transverse anisotropy splitting, enabling promising avenues for quantum sensing., Comment: 13 pages with 5 figures and a supplement

Compact binary coalescences are a promising source of gravitational waves for second-generation interferometric gravitational-wave detectors such as advanced LIGO and advanced Virgo. While most binaries are expected to possess circular orbits, some may be eccentric, for example, if they are formed through dynamical capture. Eccentric orbits can create difficulty for matched filtering searches due to the challenges of creating effective template banks to detect these signals. In previous work, we showed how seedless clustering can be used to detect low-mass ($M_\text{total}\leq10M_\odot$) compact binary coalescences for both spinning and eccentric systems, assuming a circular post-Newtonian expansion. Here, we describe a parameterization that is designed to maximize sensitivity to low-eccentricity ($0\leq\epsilon\leq0.6$) systems, derived from the analytic equations. We show that this parameterization provides a robust and computationally efficient method for detecting eccentric low-mass compact binaries. Based on these results, we conclude that advanced detectors will have a chance of detecting eccentric binaries if optimistic models prove true. However, a null observation is unlikely to firmly rule out models of eccentric binary populations.