  This work presents a cost-effective method for collecting single photons
emitted from single nitrogen-vacancy centers in nanodiamonds. Conventional
components of a confocal laser-scanning microscope, such as microscope
objectives and the piezo translation stages, are replaced by two affordable
Blu-ray optical pickup units. A Hanbury Brown and Twiss setup is used to
identify single photon emission. The proposed approach is inexpensive and
simple and lowers the entry-level to single photon research for quantum
technologies. This enables student lab experiments or demonstration experiments
at schools and shows that efficient sources of quantum light can be made from
standard components compatible with established industry processes.
