In this letter, we show efficient electrical spin injection into a SiGe based \textit{p-i-n} light emitting diode from the remanent state of a perpendicularly magnetized ferromagnetic contact. Electron spin injection is carried out through an alumina tunnel barrier from a Co/Pt thin film exhibiting a strong out-of-plane anisotropy. The electrons spin polarization is then analysed through the circular polarization of emitted light. All the light polarization measurements are performed without an external applied magnetic field \textit{i.e.} in remanent magnetic states. The light polarization as a function of the magnetic field closely traces the out-of-plane magnetization of the Co/Pt injector. We could achieve a circular polarization degree of the emitted light of 3 % at 5 K. Moreover this light polarization remains almost constant at least up to 200 K.
The electrical conductance of porous silicon fabricated with heavily doped p-type silicon is very sensitive to NO$_2$. A concentration of 10 ppb can be detected by monitoring the current injection at fixed voltage. However, we show that the sign of the injection variations depends on the porous layer thickness. If the thickness is sufficiently low -- of the order of few \micro\meter{} -- the injection decreases instead of increasing. We discuss the effect in terms of an already proposed twofold action of NO$_2$, according to which the free carrier density increases, and simultaneously the ener…
We theoretically investigate the indirect optical injection of carriers and spins in bulk silicon, using an empirical pseudopotential description of electron states and an adiabatic bond charge model for phonon states. We identify the selection rules, the contribution to the carrier and spin injection in each conduction band valley from each phonon branch and each valence band, and the temperature dependence of these processes. The transition from the heavy hole band to the lowest conduction band dominates the injection due to the large joint density of states. For incident light propagating a…
We observed spin injection into silicon through Fe/MgO tunnel barrier by using non-local magnetoresistance measurement technique. Fe/MgO tunnel barrier contacts with a lateral spin valve structure were fabricated on phosphorous doped silicon-on-insulator substrate. Spin injection signals in the non-local scheme were observed up to 120K, which is the highest value where band transferred spins in Si have ever been reported, and spin diffusion length was estimated to be about 2.25um at 8K. Temperature dependence and injection current dependence of the non-local voltage were also investigated. It …
Using an empirical pseudopotential description of electron states and an adiabatic bond charge model for phonon states in bulk silicon, we theoretically investigate two-photon indirect optical injection of carriers and spins and two-color coherent control of the motion of the injected carriers and spins. For two-photon indirect carrier and spin injection, we identify the selection rules of band edge transitions, the injection in each conduction band valley, and the injection from each phonon branch at 4 K and 300 K. At 4 K, the TA phonon-assisted transitions dominate the injection at low photo…
Here, we analyze in a non-contact fashion charge carrier mobility as a function of injection level and temperature in silicon by time resolved THz spectroscopy (TRTS) and parametrize our data by the classical semi-empirical models of Klaassen and Dorkel & Leturcq. Our experimental results are in very good agreement with the pioneering works of Krausse and Dännhauser analyzing this phenomena by employing contact-based methods. This agreement, that validates our methodology, can only be achieved by considering charge carrier diffusion effects following above bandgap near-surface pump photo-excit…
Understanding how a spin current flows across metal-semiconductor interfaces at pico- and femtosecond timescales has implications for ultrafast spintronics, data processing and storage applications. However, the possibility to directly access the propagation of spin currents on such time scales has been hampered by the simultaneous lack of both ultrafast element specific magnetic sensitive probes and tailored metal-semiconductor interfaces. Here, by means of free electron laser-based element sensitive Kerr spectroscopy, we report direct experimental evidence of spin currents across a Ni/Si int…
In a recent publication, we demonstrated electrical spin injection and detection in n-type silicon at temperatures up to 500K using ferromagnetic metal / SiO2 tunnel barrier contacts in a three-terminal geometry (Nature Commun. 2:245 doi:10.1038/ncomms125 (2011)). In comparing our measured spin-voltage signal with the value predicted by theory, we followed the analysis of Tran et al, (Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 036601 (2009)), and inadvertently propagated an error found therein. As they note in a recent erratum (arXiv:0810.4770v2), the correct expression for the spin resistance area product from th…
We use electrical spin injection to probe exchange interactions in phosphorus doped silicon (Si:P). The detection is enabled by a magnetoresistance effect that demonstrates the efficiency of exchange in imprinting spin information from the magnetic lead onto the localized moments in the Si:P region. A unique Lorentzian-shaped signal existing only at low temperatures ($\lesssim 25 K$) is observed experimentally and analyzed theoretically in electrical Hanle effect measurement. It stems from spin-dependent scattering of electrons by neutral impurities in Si:P. The shape of this signal is not dir…
We demonstrate electrical injection and detection of spin-polarized electrons in silicon (Si) using epitaxially grown Fe_3Si/Si Schottky-tunnel-barrier contacts. By an insertion of a delta-doped n^+-Si layer (~ 10^19 cm^-3) near the interface between a ferromagnetic Fe_3Si/Si contact and a Si channel (~ 10^15 cm^-3), we achieve a marked enhancement in the tunnel conductance for reverse-bias characteristics of the Fe_3Si/Si Schottky diodes. Using laterally fabricated four-probe geometries with the modified Fe_3Si/Si contacts, we detect nonlocal output signals which originate from the spin accum…
Ballistic hot electron transport overcomes the well-known problems of conductivity and spin lifetime mismatch that plagues spin injection in semiconductors with ferromagnetic ohmic contacts. Through the spin-dependent mean-free-path, it also provides a means for spin detection after transport. Experimental results using these techniques (consisting of spin precession and spin-valve measurements) with Silicon-based devices reveals the exceptionally long spin lifetime and high spin coherence induced by drift-dominated transport in the semiconductor. An appropriate quantitative model that accurat…
We have measured the optically injected excess carrier lifetime in silicon using photoexcited muon spin spectroscopy. Positive muons implanted deep in a wafer can interact with the excess carriers and directly probe the bulk carrier lifetime whilst minimizing the effect from surface recombination. The method is based on the relaxation rate of muon spin asymmetry, which depends on the excess carrier concentration. The underlying microscopic mechanism has been understood by simulating the four-state muonium model in Si under illumination. We apply the technique to different injection levels and …
Implementing spin functionalities in Si, and understanding the fundamental processes of spin injection and detection, are the main challenges in spintronics. Here we demonstrate large spin polarizations at room temperature, 34% in n-type and 10% in p-type degenerate Si bands, using a narrow Schottky and a SiO2 tunnel barrier in a direct tunneling regime. Furthermore, by increasing the width of the Schottky barrier in non-degenerate p-type Si, we observed a systematic sign reversal of the Hanle signal in the low bias regime. This dramatic change in the spin injection and detection processes wit…
We demonstrate that information can be transmitted and processed with pure spin currents in silicon. Fe/Al2O3 tunnel barrier contacts are used to produce significant electron spin polarization in the silicon, generating a spin current which flows outside of the charge current path. The spin orientation of this pure spin current is controlled in one of three ways: (a) by switching the magnetization of the Fe contact, (b) by changing the polarity of the bias on the Fe/Al2O3 (injector) contact, which enables the generation of either majority or minority spin populations in the Si, providing a way…
A theory for the relation between the spin polarization and luminescence in silicon is presented. The theory provides intuitive relations for phonon-assisted optical transitions between the conduction and valence band edges. It is shown that an opposite behavior of longitudinal and transverse optical phonon-assisted transitions is responsible to recent experimental results of spin injection into silicon. The effects of spin-orbit coupling and doping are studied in detail.
We studied the spin injection in a NiFe(Py)/Si system using broadband ferromagnetic resonance spectroscopy. The Gilbert damping parameter of the Py layer on top of the Si channel was determined as a function of the Si doping concentration and Py layer thickness. For fixed Py thickness we observed an increase of the Gilbert damping parameter with decreasing resistivity of the Si channel. For a fixed Si doping concentration we measured an increasing Gilbert damping parameter for decreasing Py layer thickness. No increase of the Gilbert damping parameter was found Py/Si samples with an insulating…
With nearly complete spin polarization, the ferromagnetic semiconductor europium monoxide could enable next-generation spintronic devices by providing efficient ohmic spin injection into silicon. Spin injection is greatly affected by the quality of the interface between the injector and silicon. Here, we use atomic-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy in conjunction with electron energy loss spectroscopy to directly image and chemically characterize a series of EuO|Si and EuO|YAlO3 interfaces fabricated using different growth conditions. We identify the presence of europium sil…
Silicon spintronics requires injection of spin-polarized carriers into Si. An emerging approach is direct electrical injection from a ferromagnetic semiconductor - EuO being the prime choice. Functionality of the EuO/Si spin contact is determined by the interface band alignment. In particular, the band offset should fall within the 0.5-2 eV range. We employ soft-X-ray ARPES to probe the electronic structure of the buried EuO/Si interface with momentum resolution and chemical specificity. The band structure reveals a conduction band offset of 1.0 eV attesting the technological potential of the …
We study temperature evolution of spin accumulation signals obtained by the three-terminal Hanle effect measurements in a nondegenerated silicon channel with a Schottky-tunnel-barrier contact. We find the clear difference in the temperature-dependent spin signals between spin-extraction and spin-injection conditions. In a spin-injection condition with a low bias current, the magnitude of spin signals can be enhanced despite the rise of temperature. For the interpretation of the temperature-dependent spin signals, it is important to consider the sensitivity of the spin detection at the Schottky…
A realistic pseudopotential model is introduced to investigate the phonon-induced spin relaxation of conduction electrons in bulk silicon. We find a surprisingly subtle interference of the Elliott and Yafet processes affecting the spin relaxation over a wide temperature range, suppressing the significance of the intravalley spin-flip scattering, previously considered dominant, above roughly 120 K. The calculated spin relaxation times $T_1$ agree with the spin resonance and spin injection data, following a $T^{-3}$ temperature dependence. The valley anisotropy of $T_1$ and the spin relaxation r…
Materials in which charge and spin degrees of freedom interact strongly offer applications known as spintronics. Following a remarkable success of metallic spintronics based on the giant-magnetoresistive effect, tremendous efforts have been invested into the less developed semiconductor spintronics, in particular, with the aim to produce three-terminal spintronic devices, e.g. spin transistors. One of the most important prerequisites for such a technology is an effective injection of spin-polarized carriers from a ferromagnetic semiconductor into a nonmagnetic semiconductor, preferably one of …
A systematic investigation of spin transport properties in silicon at 8 K by using a non-local geometry is presented. The spin injection signal in the non-local scheme is found to increase in proportion to the evolution of bias electric currents. Theoretical fittings using the Hanle-type spin precession signals reveal that the spin polarization of the transported spin in the Si is much less affected by the change in the bias electric current compared with a case of the other spin devices, which induces a unique bias dependence of the spin signals.
In this study we investigate magnetic properties, surface morphology and crystal structure in iron nanoclusters electrodeposited on lightly-doped (100) n-type silicon substrates. Our goal is to investigate the spin injection and detection in the Fe/Si lateral structures. The samples obtained under electric percolation were characterized by magnetoresistive and magnetic resonance measurements with cycling the sweeping applied field in order to understand the spin dynamics in the as-produced samples. The observed hysteresis in the magnetic resonance spectra, plus the presence of a broad peak in …
The high field charge injection and transport properties in reinforced silicone dielectrics were investigated by measuring the time-dependent space charge distribution and the current under dc conditions up to the breakdown field, and were compared with properties of other dielectric polymers. It is argued that the energy and spatial distribution of localized electronic states are crucial to determining these properties for polymer dielectrics. Tunneling to localized states likely dominates the charge injection process. A transient transport regime arises due to the relaxation of charge carrie…
For electrical spin injection and detection of spin-polarized electrons in silicon, we explore highly epitaxial growth of ferromagnetic full-Heusler-alloy Co2FeSi thin films on silicon substrates using low-temperature molecular beam epitaxy (LTMBE). Although in-situ reflection high energy electron diffraction images clearly show two-dimensional epitaxial growth for growth temperatures T_G of 60, 130, and 200 C, cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy experiments reveal that there are single-crystal phases other than Heusler alloys near the interface between Co_2FeSi and Si for T_G = 1…
We report the influence of static mechanical deformation on the zero-field splitting of silicon vacancies in silicon carbide at room temperature. We use AlN/6H-SiC heterostructures deformed by growth conditions and monitor the stress distribution as a function of distance from the heterointerface with spatially-resolved confocal Raman spectroscopy. The zero-field splitting of the V1/V3 and V2 centers in 6H-SiC, measured by optically-detected magnetic resonance, reveal significant changes at the heterointerface compared to the bulk value. This approach allows unambiguous determination of the sp…
Most of the studies addressed to computations of hydrogen parameters in semiconductor systems, such as silicon, are performed at zero temperature T=0 K and do not account for contribution of vibrational zero point energy (ZPE). For light weight atoms such as hydrogen (H), however, magnitude of this parameter might be not negligible. This work is devoted to clarify the importance of accounting the zero-point vibrations when analyzing hydrogen behavior in silicon and its effect on silicon electronic properties. For this, we estimate the ZPE for different locations and charge states of H in Si. W…
We demonstrate a large electrical spin injection into GaAs at zero magnetic field thanks to an ultrathin perpendicularly magnetized CoFeB contact of a few atomic planes (1.2 nm). The spin-polarization of electrons injected into GaAs was examined by the circular polarization of electroluminescence from a Spin Light Emitting Diode with embedded InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells. The electroluminescence polarization as a function of the magnetic field closely traces the out-of-plane magnetization of the CoFeB/MgO injector. A circular polarization degree of the emitted light as large as 20% at 25 K is ach…
Efficient injection of spin-polarized electrons into the conduction band of silicon is limited by the formation of a silicide at the ferromagnetic metal (FM)/silicon interface. In the present work, this "magnetically-dead" silicide (where strong spin-scattering significantly reduces injected spin polarization) is eliminated by moving the FM in the spin injector from the tunnel junction base anode to the emitter cathode and away from the silicon surface. This results in over an order-of-magnitude increase in spin injection efficiency, from a previously-reported magnetocurrent ratio of ~2% to ~3…
Spin injection from a half-metallic electrode in the presence of thermal spin disorder is analyzed using a combination of random matrix theory, spin-diffusion theory, and explicit simulations for the tight-binding s-d model. It is shown that efficient spin injection from a half-metal is possible as long as the effective resistance of the normal metal does not exceed a characteristic value, which does not depend on the resistance of the half-metallic electrode, but is rather controlled by spin-flip scattering at the interface. This condition can be formulated as α<(l/L)/T, where αis the relativ…
Using a metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) structure with a high-quality CoFe/n^+Si contact, we systematically study spin injection and spin accumulation in a nondegenerated Si channel with a doping density of ~ 4.5*10^15cm^-3 at room temperature. By applying the gate voltage (V_G) to the channel, we obtain sufficient bias currents (I_Bias) for creating spin accumulation in the channel and observe clear spin-accumulation signals even at room temperature. Whereas the magnitude of the spin signals is enhanced by increasing I_Bias, it is reduced by increasing V_G interesti…
A major challenge for the next generation of spintronics devices is the implementation of ferromagnetic-semiconductor thin films as spin injectors and detectors. Spin-polarised carrier injection cannot be accomplished efficiently from metals, and coupled with the rarity of intrinsic ferromagnetic semiconductors this has driven intensive study of diluted magnetic semiconductors. Chief among these is the doped III-V compound (Ga,Mn)As. These materials suffer from a number of drawbacks; they (i) require magnetic-ion doping well above the solubility limit, and (ii) must be hole doped to above the …
A hybrid ferromagnet/semiconductor device is used to determine a lower bound on the spin lifetime for conduction electrons in silicon. We use spin precession to self-consistently measure the drift velocity vs. drift field of spin-polarized electrons and use this electronic control to change the transit time between electron injection and detection. A measurement of normalized magnetocurrent as a function of drift velocity is used with a simple exponential-decay model to argue that the lifetime obtained (~2 ns) is artificially lowered by electronic effects and is likely orders of magnitude high…
The electron spin lifetime and diffusion length are transport parameters that define the scale of coherence in spintronic devices and circuits. Since these parameters are many orders of magnitude larger in semiconductors than in metals, semiconductors could be the most suitable for spintronics. Thus far, spin transport has only been measured in direct-bandgap semiconductors or in combination with magnetic semiconductors, excluding a wide range of non-magnetic semiconductors with indirect bandgaps. Most notable in this group is silicon (Si), which (in addition to its market entrenchment in elec…
Non-local carrier injection/detection schemes lie at the very foundation of information manipulation in integrated systems. This paradigm consists in controlling with an external signal the channel where charge carriers flow between a "source" and a well separated "drain". The next generation electronics may operate on the spin of carriers instead of their charge and germanium appears as the best hosting material to develop such a platform for its compatibility with mainstream silicon technology and the long electron spin lifetime at room temperature. Moreover, the energy proximity between the…
We report a giant thermal shift of $2.1 \,$MHz/K related to the excited-state zero-field splitting in the silicon vacancy centers in 4H silicon carbide. It is obtained from the indirect observation of the optically detected magnetic resonance in the excited state using the ground state as an ancilla. Alternatively, relative variations of the zero-field splitting for small temperature differences can be detected without application of radiofrequency fields, by simply monitoring the photoluminescence intensity in the vicinity of the level anticrossing. This effect results in an all-optical therm…
This paper predicts the possibility to achieve synchronization (via injection locking to a microwave current) of spin-transfer torque oscillators based on hybrid spin-valves composed by two free layers and two perpendicular polarizers at zero bias field. The locking regions are attained for microwave frequency near 0.5f0, f0, and 2f0 where f0 is the input oscillator frequency. Those properties make this system promising for applications, such as high-speed frequency dividers and multipliers, and phase-locked-loop demodulators.
Conversion of heat into a spin-current in electron doped silicon can offer a promising path for spin-caloritronics. Here we create an electron spin polarization in the conduction band of n-type silicon by producing a temperature gradient across a ferromagnetic tunnel contact. The substrate heating experiments induce a large spin signal of 95 $μ$V, corresponding to 0.54 meV spin-splitting in the conduction band of n-type silicon by Seebeck spin tunneling mechanism. The thermal origin of the spin injection has been confirmed by the quadratic scaling of the spin signal with the Joule heating curr…
We demonstrate the injection and transport of spin-polarized electrons through n-type doped silicon with in-plane spin-valve and perpendicular magnetic field spin precession and dephasing ("Hanle effect") measurements. A voltage applied across the transport layer is used to vary the confinement potential caused by conduction band-bending and control the dominant transport mechanism between drift and diffusion. By modeling transport in this device with a Monte-Carlo scheme, we simulate the observed spin polarization and Hanle features, showing that the average transit time across the short Si t…
Ferromagnetic semiconductor europium monoxide (EuO) is believed to be an effective spin injector when directly integrated with silicon. Injection through spin-selective ohmic contact requires superb structural quality of the interface EuO/Si. Recent breakthrough in manufacturing free-of-buffer-layer EuO/Si junctions calls for structural studies of the interface between the semiconductors. Ex situ high-resolution X-ray diffraction and reflectivity accompanied by in situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction reveal direct coupling at the interface. A combined analysis of XRD and XRR data p…
Polarization engineered interband tunnel junctions (TJs) are integrated in nanowire ultraviolet (UV) light emitting diodes (LEDs). A ~6V reduction in turn-on voltage is achieved by the integration of tunnel junction at the base of polarization doped nanowire UV LEDs. Moreover, efficient hole injection into the nanowire LEDs leads to suppressed efficiency droop in TJ integrated nanowire LEDs. The combination of both reduced bias voltage and increased hole injection increases the wall plug efficiency in these devices. More than 100 microwatts of UV emission at ~310 nm is measured with external q…
We show that undoped silicon waveguides may suffer of up to 1.8 dB/cm free-carrier absorption caused by improper surface passivation. To verify the effects of free-carriers we apply a gate field to the waveguides. Smallest losses correspond to higher electrical sheet resistances and are generally obtained with non-zero gate fields. The presence of free carriers for zero gate field is attributed to surface transfer doping. These results open new perspectives for minimizing propagation losses in silicon waveguides and for obtaining low-loss and highly conductive silicon films without applying a …
We demonstrate spin-accumulation signals controlled by the gate voltage in a metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor structure with a Si channel and a CoFe/$n^{+}$-Si contact at room temperature. Under the application of a back-gate voltage, we clearly observe the three-terminal Hanle-effect signal, i.e., spin-accumulation signal. The magnitude of the spin-accumulation signals can be reduced with increasing the gate voltage. We consider that the gate controlled spin signals are attributed to the change in the carrier density in the Si channel beneath the CoFe/$n^{+}$-Si contact. This…
Silicon nanotube is constructed by rolling up a silicene, i.e., a monolayer of silicon atoms forming a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice. It is a semiconductor or an insulator owing to relatively large spin-orbit interactions induced by its buckled structure. The key observation is that this buckled structure allows us to control the band structure by applying electric field $E_z$. When $E_z$ is larger than a certain critical value $E_{\text{cr}}$, by analyzing the band structure and also on the basis of the effective Dirac theory, we demonstrate the emergence of four helical zero-energy modes…
The silicon-vacancy centre (SiV) in diamond has interesting vibronic features. We demonstrate that the zero phonon line position can be used to reliably identify the silicon isotope present in a single centre. This is of interest for quantum information applications since only the silicon 29 isotope has nuclear spin. In addition, we demonstrate that the 64 meV line is due to a local vibrational mode of the silicon atom. The presence of a local mode suggests a plausible origin of the isotopic shift of the zero phonon line.
We report on efficient spin injection in p-doped InGaAs/GaAs quantum-dot (QD) spin light emitting diode (spin-LED) under zero applied magnetic field. A high degree of electroluminescence circular polarization (Pc) ~19% is measured in remanence up to 100K. This result is obtained thanks to the combination of a perpendicularly magnetized CoFeB/MgO spin injector allowing efficient spin injection and an appropriate p-doped InGaAs/GaAs QD layer in the active region. By analyzing the bias and temperature dependence of the electroluminescence circular polarization, we have evidenced a two-step spin r…
The scattering of conduction electrons off neutral donors depends sensitively on the relative orientation of their spin states. We present a theory of spin-dependent scattering in the two dimensional electron gas (2DEG) of field effect transistors. Our theory shows that the scattering mechanism is dominated by virtual transitions to negatively ionized donor levels. This effect translates into a source-drain current that always gets reduced when donor spins are at resonance with a strong microwave field. We propose a model for donor impurities interacting with conduction electrons in a silicon …
Cluster-configurational study of G-center in Silicon
Virginia Tech（弗吉尼亚理工大学）；Virginia Tech Center for Quantum Information Science and Engineering（弗吉尼亚理工学院量子信息与工程中心）；Virginia Tech National Security Institute（弗吉尼亚理工学院国家安全研究所）
The study of defect centers in silicon has been recently reinvigorated by their potential applications in optical quantum information processing. A number of silicon defect centers emit single photons in the telecommunication $O$-band, making them promising building blocks for quantum networks between computing nodes. The two-carbon G-center, self-interstitial W-center, and spin-$1/2$ T-center are the most intensively studied silicon defect centers, yet despite this, there is no consensus on the precise configurations of defect atoms in these centers, and their electronic structures remain amb…
The neutrally-charged silicon vacancy in diamond is a promising system for quantum technologies that combines high-efficiency, broadband optical spin polarization with long spin lifetimes (T2 ~ 1 ms at 4 K) and up to 90% of optical emission into its 946 nm zero-phonon line. However, the electronic structure of SiV0 is poorly understood, making further exploitation difficult. Performing photoluminescence spectroscopy of SiV0 under uniaxial stress, we find the previous excited electronic structure of a single 3A1u state is incorrect, and identify instead a coupled 3Eu - 3A2u system, the lower st…
Some of the stable isotopes of silicon and carbon have zero nuclear spin, whereas many of the other elements that constitute semiconductors consist entirely of stable isotopes that have nuclear spins. Silicon and diamond crystals composed of nuclear-spin-free stable isotopes (Si-28, Si-30, or C-12) are considered to be ideal host matrixes to place spin quantum bits (qubits) for quntum computing and sensing applications because their coherent properties are not disrupted thanks to the absence of host nuclear spins. The present article describes the state-of-the-art and future perspective of sil…
Pressure-induced magnetic phase transition is attracting interest due to its ability to detect superconducting behaviour at high pressures in diamond anvil cells. However, detection of the local sample magnetic properties is a great challenge due to the small sample chamber volume. Recently, optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) of nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in diamond have been used for in-situ pressure-induced phase transition detection. However, owing to their four orientation axes and temperature-dependent zero-field-splitting, interpreting the observed ODMR spectra of NV centers…
We demonstrate optical spin polarization of the neutrally-charged silicon-vacancy defect in diamond ($\mathrm{SiV^{0}}$), an $S=1$ defect which emits with a zero-phonon line at 946 nm. The spin polarization is found to be most efficient under resonant excitation, but non-zero at below-resonant energies. We measure an ensemble spin coherence time $T_2>100~\mathrm{μs}$ at low-temperature, and a spin relaxation limit of $T_1>25~\mathrm{s}$. Optical spin state initialization around 946 nm allows independent initialization of $\mathrm{SiV^{0}}$ and $\mathrm{NV^{-}}$ within the same optically-addres…
