Colour centres in solid-state materials are considered promising building blocks for processing and transmitting quantum information. However, their controlled generation and integration into photonic structures remain a major research challenge. An international research team has now developed a new approach that enables such quantum emitters to be generated in a more controlled manner and optimised in terms of their spectral properties. Valeria Saggio, Scientist in the Center for Digital Safety & Security, is second author of the recently published paper in Communications Physics, part of the Nature Portfolio.
The paper, “End-to-end physics-based modeling of laser-activated color centers in silicon”, addresses a key challenge for the practical use of colour centres: quantum emitters need to be generated locally and efficiently within nanophotonic structures while exhibiting highly similar spectral properties.
The research combines a newly developed physics-based model with laser annealing. The model captures the underlying formation process of colour centres and enables their activation to be controlled. Using this approach, the researchers were able to create quantum emitters with highly similar spectral properties and successfully demonstrate laser writing in photonic crystal cavities.
The results provide an important foundation for the deterministic and large-scale integration of colour centres into quantum photonic platforms. In the longer term, such approaches can contribute to the development of integrated quantum technologies for future quantum communication systems.
International research expertise at AIT
Valeria Saggio is a scientist at the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology. After completing her PhD in quantum physics at the University of Vienna, she carried out a three-year postdoctoral appointment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA. Her research achievements have been recognised through several high-impact scientific publications and four doctoral thesis awards.
She is actively involved in multiple national and international research projects, with her research spanning quantum communication, quantum computing, and integrated photonics. At AIT, she focuses on developing next-generation quantum technologies for future quantum communication systems.
The publication in Communications Physics highlights Saggio’s international research expertise in a field that is central to the development of advanced quantum technologies.
More information: https://www.nature.com/articles/s42005-026-02731-3