Hidden Silicon-Vacancy Centers in Diamond

Christopher L. Smallwood, Ronald Ulbricht, Matthew W. Day, Tim Schröder, Kelsey M. Bates, Travis M. Autry, Geoffrey Diederich, Edward Bielejec, Mark E. Siemens, and Steven T. Cundiff

Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 213601 – Published 24 May 2021

Abstract

We characterize a high-density sample of negatively charged silicon-vacancy ( ${SiV}^{-}$ ) centers in diamond using collinear optical multidimensional coherent spectroscopy. By comparing the results of complementary signal detection schemes, we identify a hidden population of ${SiV}^{-}$ centers that is not typically observed in photoluminescence and which exhibits significant spectral inhomogeneity and extended electronic $T_{2}$ times. The phenomenon is likely caused by strain, indicating a potential mechanism for controlling electric coherence in color-center-based quantum devices.

Received 23 May 2020
Accepted 19 April 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.213601

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Quantum optics Vacancies

Femtosecond laser spectroscopy

Atomic, Molecular & OpticalCondensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Christopher L. Smallwood ^1,2, Ronald Ulbricht³, Matthew W. Day ¹, Tim Schröder ^4,5, Kelsey M. Bates ¹, Travis M. Autry^6,7,*, Geoffrey Diederich ^8,†, Edward Bielejec ⁹, Mark E. Siemens ⁸, and Steven T. Cundiff ^1,‡

¹Department of Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
²Department of Physics and Astronomy, San José State University, San Jose, California 95192, USA
³Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Ackermannweg 10, 55128 Mainz, Germany
⁴Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
⁵Department of Physics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Newtonstrasse 15, 12489 Berlin, Germany
⁶JILA, University of Colorado and National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA
⁷Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA
⁸Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Denver, Denver, Colorado 80208, USA
⁹Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185, USA

^*Present address: HRL, Malibu, California 90265, USA.
^†Present address: Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, D.C. 98195, USA.
^‡cundiff@umich.edu