Quantum Sensing and Photonic Devices in Silicon Carbide

Silicon carbide is a wide bandgap semiconductor that has long been recognized for its role in high-power electronics, especially with the growing demand for renewable energy solutions and electric vehicles. On the other hand, silicon carbide is a promising host material for various spin defects which can be used for quantum technologies. Therefore, silicon carbide attracted significant attention of scientists and quantum engineers in recent years. The application range of silicon carbide defects spans from sensing to quantum information. While silicon carbide has large optical transparency window, high refractive index supporting confinement of light, various polytypes have large nonlinearities, and it is compatible with CMOS processing techniques, this material have all prerequisites to combine electronic, photonic and quantum devices in one chip.
In the proposed PhD position, the candidate will focus on the investigation of several defects for sensing application and fabrication of photonic devices of silicon carbide with functional defects that couples photons and spin degrees of freedom. The PhD candidate will acquire deep knowledge in control of individual spin systems in solids using combination of confocal microscopy and microwave spectroscopy techniques, cleanroom fabrication processes, including lithography and plasma etching. The PhD candidate will be instrumental in creation and thorough characterization of the defects in silicon carbide as well as optimization of their optical and spin properties.

Required background: Motivated Master or diploma students in physics, material engineering, electrical engineering or related disciplines, preferably with a strong background in optics, atomic or solid-state physics, nanoengineering are encouraged to apply.

Type of work: Conduct literature reviews, simulations, and theoretical calculations; design and fabricate nanophotonic devices in a cleanroom environment; characterize optical properties of the fabricated systems; contribute to manuscript preparation for peer-reviewed publications; participate in conferences and collaborate with other teams. 20% literature ; 30% simulation/theory; 20% fabrication ; 30% experiments