Silicon carbide LEDs make bright single photon sources

A variety of new colour centres (luminescing crystal defects that can emit individual photons) have been found in light-emitting diodes made from silicon carbide (SiC). The result confirms once again that it is a promising single-photon source and a good material out of which to make quantum bits (qubits). Single-photon emitters operating at room temperature could be used in on-chip quantum communication applications, and as a source of “flying” qubits for quantum computers. Such computers exploit the ability of quantum particles to be in a “superposition” of two or more states at the same time unlike classical computers that store and process information as “bits” that can have one of two logic states – “0” or “1”