Narrative CV

Yu-Chen Chen, an assistant research fellow specializing in single spin defects for quantum applications. His research interests focus on engineering and characterising single photon emitters in wide bandgap materials, such as diamond and SiC. He obtained his Master degree from NTHU in Taiwan. Then, He obtained his Ph. D degree from University of Oxford in UK.

He developed a method using femtosecond pulsed laser to generate single nitrogen-vacancy defects in diamond. This method is demonstrated to be able to generate minimum damage to the host materials. As a results, laser-generated nitrogen-vacancy centres’ spin and optical coherence properties can reach its physics limit. Furthermore, he also demonstrated that this laser fabrication method can be used to generate silicon vacancy in silicon carbide.

His future research focuses on two topics. First, finding out new spin defects in the materials that are compatible with well-established, industrial-scale nano- or microfabrication of photonic structures, such as silica and SiN. Thus, the single spin defects can be coupled to on-chip photonic device to realise scalable quantum devices. His second research focus is engineering single spin defect with telecom band emission. This type of defects has great potential on the applications of quantum communication.

Education

• 2013 - 2017, Ph.D. in Materials science, University of Oxford
• 2009 - 2010, M.S. in Physics, National Tsing Hua University

Positions and Career

• Assistant Research Fellow, Research Center for Applied Sciences, Academia Sinica (2022-)
• Postdoctoral Researcher, Research Center for Applied Sciences, Academia Sinica (2021-2022)
• Postdoctoral Researcher, 3^rd Institute of Physics, University of Stuttgart (2018-2020)

Honors and Awards

• 2013-2016 DPhil programme scholarship sponsored by De Beers

Selected Publications

• N. Chejanovsky, A. Mukherjee*, J. Geng, Y. C. Chen, Y. Kim, A. Denisenko. A. Finkler, T. Taniguchi, K. Watanabe, D. B. R. Dasari*. P. Auburger, A. Gali, J. H. Smet, and J. Wrachtrup. Single-spin resonance in a van der Waals embedded paramagnetic defect. Nature Materials 20, 1079-1084 (2021).
• M. Niethammer*, M. Widmann, T. Rendler, N. Morioka, Y. C. Chen, R. Stöhr, J. Ul Hassan, S. Onoda, T. Ohshima, S. Y. Lee, A. Mukherjee, J. Isoya, N. T. Son, and J. Wrachtrup. Coherent electrical readout of defect spins in silicon carbide by photo-ionization at ambient conditions. Nature Communications 10, 5569 (2019).
• C. J. Stephen, B. L. Green, Y. N. D. Lekhai, L. Weng, P. Hill, S. Johnson, A. C. Frangeskou, P. L. Diggle, Y.-C. Chen, J. Strain, E. Gu, M. E. Newton, J. M. Smith, P. S. Slater, and G. W. Morley*. Deep three-dimensional solid-state qubit arrays with long-live spin coherence. Physical Review Applied 12, 064005 (2019).
• M. Widmann*, M. Niethammer, D. Y. Fedyanin, I. A. Khramtsov, T. Rendler, I. D. Booker, J. Ul Hassan, N. Marioka, Y. C. Chen, I. G. Ivanov, N. T. Son, T. Ohshima, M. Bockstedte, A. Gali, C. Bonato, S. Y. Lee*, and J. Wrachtrup. Electrical charge state manipulation of single silicon vacancies in a silicon carbide quantum optoelectronic device. Nano Letters 19, 10, 7173-7180 (2019).
• Y. C. Chen, B. Griffiths, L. Weng, S. S. Nicley, S. N. Ishmael, Y. Lekhai, S. Johnson, C. J. Stephen, B. L. Green, G. W. Morley, M. E. Newton, M. J. Booth, P. S. Salter, and J. M. Smith*. Laser writing of individual nitrogen-vacancy defects in diamond with near-unity yield. Optica 6, 5, 662-667 (2019).
• R. Nagy, M. Niethammer, M. Widmann, Y. C. Chen, P. Udyarhelyi, C. Bonato, J. Ul Hassan, R. Karhu, I. G. Ivanov, N. T. Son, J. R. Maze, T. Ohshima, O. O. Soykal, A. Gali, S. Y. Lee*, F. Kaiser*, and J. Wrachtrup. High-fidelity spin and optical control of single silicon-vacancy centres in silicon carbide. Nature Communications 10, 1954 (2019).
• Y. C. Chen*, P. S. Salter, M. Niethammer, M. Widmann, F. Kaiser, R. Nagy, N. Marioka, C. Babin, J. Erlekampf, P. Berwian, M. J. Booth, and J. Wrachtrup. Laser writing of scalable single color centers in silicon carbide. Nano Letters 19, 4, 2377-2383 (2019).
• P. R. Dolan, S. Adekanye, A. A. P. Trichet, S. Johnson, L. C. Flatten, Y. C. Chen, L. Weng, D. Hunger, H.-C. Chang, S. Castelletto, and J. M. Smith*. Robust, tunable, and high purity triggered single photon source at room temperature using a nitrogen-vacancy defect in diamond in an open microcavity. Optics Express 26, 6, 7056-7065 (2018).
• Y. C. Chen, P. S. Salter, S. Knauer, L. Weng, A. C. Frangeskou, C. J. Stephen, S. N. Ishmael, P. R. Dolan, S. Johnson, B. L. Green, G. W. Morley, M. E. Newton, J. G. Rarity, M. J. Booth, and J. M. Smith*. Laser writing of coherent colour centres in diamond. Nature Photonics 11, 77-80 (2017).

• Y. C. Chen, S. C. Lin, J. P. Chou, Y. C. Tsai, C. T. Huang, C. J. Lee, W. H. Chang. Stable Single Photon Emitters with Large Debye–Waller Factor in Silica. ACS Photonics 12, 3, 1461–1469 (2025).
• N. Chejanovsky, A. Mukherjee*, J. Geng, Y. C. Chen, Y. Kim, A. Denisenko. A. Finkler, T. Taniguchi, K. Watanabe, D. B. R. Dasari*. P. Auburger, A. Gali, J. H. Smet, and J. Wrachtrup. Single-spin resonance in a van der Waals embedded paramagnetic defect. Nature Materials 20, 1079-1084 (2021).
• M. Niethammer*, M. Widmann, T. Rendler, N. Morioka, Y. C. Chen, R. Stöhr, J. Ul Hassan, S. Onoda, T. Ohshima, S. Y. Lee, A. Mukherjee, J. Isoya, N. T. Son, and J. Wrachtrup. Coherent electrical readout of defect spins in silicon carbide by photo-ionization at ambient conditions. Nature Communications 10, 5569 (2019).
• C. J. Stephen, B. L. Green, Y. N. D. Lekhai, L. Weng, P. Hill, S. Johnson, A. C. Frangeskou, P. L. Diggle, Y. C. Chen, J. Strain, E. Gu, M. E. Newton, J. M. Smith, P. S. Slater, and G. W. Morley*. Deep three-dimensional solid-state qubit arrays with long-live spin coherence. Physical Review Applied 12, 064005 (2019).
• M. Widmann*, M. Niethammer, D. Y. Fedyanin, I. A. Khramtsov, T. Rendler, I. D. Booker, J. Ul Hassan, N. Marioka, Y. C. Chen, I. G. Ivanov, N. T. Son, T. Ohshima, M. Bockstedte, A. Gali, C. Bonato, S. Y. Lee*, and J. Wrachtrup. Electrical charge state manipulation of single silicon vacancies in a silicon carbide quantum optoelectronic device. Nano Letters 19, 10, 7173-7180 (2019).