Abstract

Nanophotonic devices, such as photonic crystal nanocavities and microdisk whispering gallery mode resonators, provide a robust and scalable platform for experiments in nonlinear optics and cavity quantum electrodynamics (cavity-QED).  For example, microcavities, which can confine photons to ultra-small volumes for many optical cycles, display optical bistability at ultralow powers, due to weak nonlinearities intrinsic to the device host material (e.g., Si), or at the single intracavity photon level, due to coherent interaction with a resonant atomic transition (e.g., an alkali atom or quantum dot).

We have demonstrated a number of important elements required for these experiments, including high-Q microcavities, efficient fiber-to-microcavity coupling, and a method for combining microcavities with "atom-chips".  In my talk I will review these tools, and discuss recent experiments with microcavities and diamond nanocrystals, as well as devices fabricated from bulk, single-crystal diamond.  Optical transitions supported by nitrogen-vacancy (NV) defects in diamond exhibit atom-like properties, such as spectral stability, narrow linewidth, and Lambda fine structure, and are promising "quantum emitters" for information processing in solid-state systems.