Thin Film Interference in Diamond Membranes for Control of Silicon Vacancy Center Emission

Thin-film interference is widely leveraged in classical optics as a minimalistic yet powerful lever for controlling optical fields, underpinning technologies from anti‑reflective coatings to photovoltaics. However, extending this concept to diamond membranes and other thin film solid-state quantum emitter host materials has remained unexplored, partly due to the challenges in fabricating ultrathin membranes. Here, a wedge-shaped diamond membrane is engineered to demonstrate thickness-dependent interference phenomena. This can not only be used as a broadband reflector or wavelength-specific absorber, but it can also significantly modulate both excitation and emission intensities of silicon vacancy (SiV) centers, leading to a photoluminescence enhancement up to 96-fold. This route circumvents the need for high‑Q cavities or intricate nanolithography, and the sample gradient offers a visualization of broadband resonances and anti‑resonances across the visible to near‑infrared spectrum. These findings offer an alternative method for controlling effective brightness enhancement or suppression of diamond color centers-based quantum photonics. Beyond quantum emission enhancement, diamond membranes could serve as a passive layer such as a broadband reflector or a wavelength-specific absorber, and find applications in heterostructures, photovoltaics, display technologies, and even in semiconductor thermal management.

Duke Scholars

Author Deniz Acil