Enhancing quantum emission in silicon nitride via plasmonic and dielectric cavities

In this work, we present our latest progress on enhancing room-temperature single-photon emission from silicon nitride (SiN) through integration with a bull's eye resonant cavity and plasmonic nanostructures. Recent advances have established intrinsic SiN single-photon emitters as promising candidates for scalable photonic quantum technologies. We demonstrate a 3.5x Purcell enhancement and improved emission directionality using a bull's eye antenna. Time-resolved photoluminescence measurements reveal reduced lifetimes that confirm the enhanced spontaneous emission. Building on these results, we integrate a plasmonic element at the cavity center to further boost performance. Our findings indicate that the hybrid structure exhibits a remarkably short lifetime of less than 50ps, compared to the 1.5ns lifetime observed in the bulk emission. This hybrid dielectric-plasmonic design paves the way for advanced quantum photonic devices by leveraging the benefits of both cavity confinement and plasmonic enhancement. Additionally, we discuss achieving high optical nonlinearity at ultra-low photon intensities using a silicon avalanche photodiode.