Design and fabrication of single photon sources in aluminium nitride

Yagci, Huseyin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8992-2292 2026. Design and fabrication of single photon sources in aluminium nitride. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

Generation, manipulation and detection of quantum states of light lies at the heart of modern physical sciences. There is a global effort on discovering material platforms that will result in a quantum advantage over the classical implementations for certain useful problems in cryptography, communications and computing. An avenue being explored is the generation of single-photons for practical quantum computing and communications applications. Aluminium nitride (AlN) is one of the promising materials as it is compatible with CMOS processes, hosts crystal defects as qubit candidates within its wide bandgap and offers respectable second- and third-order nonlinearity coefficients. Combined with its high refractive index, large piezoelectric coefficients and considerable thermal conductivity, it is an ideal device platform for controllable and deterministic single-photon source implementations. In this thesis, I will present my work on creation of single-photon emitters in AlN through ion implantation and annealing, followed by the characterisation of the created defects via confocal microscopy. A design and fabrication methodology for increasing the brightness of such emitters through micro/nanofabrication will be explored, and preliminary results on brightness enhancement from native defects in AlN will be presented. A 4-inch process for AlN-on-sapphire platform will be outlined with the aim of providing a scalable integrated photonics platform for possible single-photon source implementations in AlN. This work builds a foundation of theoretical and experimental basis for future studies, both for crystal defects in AlN, as well as four-wave mixing AlN PICs for high-performance single-photon generation.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Schools > Engineering
Uncontrolled Keywords:	1. Aluminium nitride 2. Single photon emitter 3. Colour centre 4. Photonic integrated circuit 5. Ion implantation 6. Confocal microscopy
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	16 September 2026
Last Modified:	16 Sep 2026 14:52
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/188945

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