Diamond Grown on Optical Fiber for Waveguiding

Scientists at the University of Melbourne in Australia report in the March 28 issue of Applied Physics Letters the waveguiding of the nitrogen-vacancy color center fluorescence in diamond microcrystals grown on optical fiber. They grew the diamond on the end faces of cleaved fiber by chemical vapor deposition and excited fluorescence in the crystals by illuminating them with 10 mW of 514-nm laser light. A spectrum they collected at the other end of the fibers indicated the successful waveguiding of the nitrogen-vacancy color center signal. The researchers note that the technique should be suitable for a range of optically active centers in diamond and suggest that such work may have implications in the use of the centers as coupling elements or room-temperature single-photon sources. They are considering commercialization of the technology. Reprinted with permission from J.R. Rabeau, S.T. Huntington, A.D. Greentree and S. Prawer, Applied Physics Letters, 86, 134104 (2005). Copyright 2005, American Institute of Physics.