Solid state quantum emitters with spin registers are promising platforms for quantum communication, yet few emit in the narrow telecom band necessary for low-loss fiber networks. Here we create and isolate near-surface single vanadium dopants in silicon carbide (SiC) with stable and narrow emission in the O-band (1278-1388 nm), with brightness allowing cavity-free detection in a wafer-scale CMOS-compatible material. In vanadium ensembles, we characterize the complex d1 orbital physics in all five available sites in 4H-SiC and 6H-SiC. The optical transitions are sensitive to mass shifts from local silicon and carbon isotopes, enabling optically resolved nuclear spin registers. Optically detected magnetic resonance in the ground and excited orbital states reveals a variety of hyperfine interactions with the vanadium nuclear spin and clock transitions for quantum memories. Finally, we demonstrate coherent quantum control of the spin state. These results provide a path for telecom emitters in the solid-state for quantum applications.
We study the optical properties of tetravalent vanadium impurities in 4H silicon carbide (4H SiC). Emission from two crystalline sites is observed at wavelengths of 1.28 \mum and 1.33 \mum, with optical lifetimes of 163 ns and 43 ns. Group theory and ab initio density functional supercell calculations enable unequivocal site assignment and shed light on the spectral features of the defects. We conclude with a brief outlook on applications in quantum photonics.
Progress with quantum technology has for a large part been realized with the nitrogen-vacancy centre in diamond. Part of its properties, however, are nonideal and this drives research into other spin-active crystal defects. Several of these come with much stronger energy scales for spin-orbit and hyperfine coupling, but how this affects their spin coherence is little explored. Vanadium in silicon carbide is such a system, with technological interest for its optical emission at a telecom wavelength and compatibility with semiconductor industry. Here we show coherent spin dynamics of an ensemble…
Vanadium in silicon carbide (SiC) is emerging as an important candidate system for quantum technology due to its optical transitions in the telecom wavelength range. However, several key characteristics of this defect family including their spin relaxation lifetime (T1), charge state dynamics, and level structure are not fully understood. In this work, we determine the T1 of an ensemble of vanadium defects, demonstrating that it can be greatly enhanced at low temperature. We observe a large spin contrast exceeding 90% and long spin-relaxation times of up to 25s at 100mK, and of order 1s at 1.3…
A Si-on-SiC Platform for Interfacing with Vanadium Dopants in the Telecom O-Band
Q-NEXT, Argonne National Laboratory（Q-NEXT，阿贡国家实验室）；Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago（芝加哥大学普里茨克分子工程学院）；Material Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory（阿贡国家实验室材料科学部）；Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory（阿贡国家实验室纳米材料中心）
Solid-state color centers with manipulatable spin qubits and telecom-ranged fluorescence are ideal platforms for quantum communications and distributed quantum computations. In this work, we coherently control the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center spins in silicon carbide at room temperature, in which telecom-wavelength emission is detected. We increase the NV concentration six-fold through optimization of implantation conditions. Hence, coherent control of NV center spins is achieved at room temperature and the coherence time T2 can be reached to around 17.1 μs. Furthermore, investigation of fluor…
Color centers in wide-bandgap semiconductors are attractive systems for quantum technologies since they can combine long-coherent electronic spin and bright optical properties. Several suitable centers have been identified, most famously the nitrogen-vacancy defect in diamond. However, integration in communication technology is hindered by the fact that their optical transitions lie outside telecom wavelength bands. Several transition-metal impurities in silicon carbide do emit at and near telecom wavelengths, but knowledge about their spin and optical properties is incomplete. We present all-…
Transition metal (TM) defects in silicon carbide (SiC) are a promising platform for applications in quantum technology. Some TM defects, e.g. vanadium, emit in one of the telecom bands, but the large ground state hyperfine manifold poses a problem for applications which require pure quantum states. We develop a driven, dissipative protocol to polarize the nuclear spin, based on a rigorous theoretical model of the defect. We further show that nuclear-spin polarization enables the use of well-known methods for initialization and long-time coherent storage of quantum states. The proposed nuclear-…
We present the design, fabrication, and characterization of high quality factor and small mode volume planar photonic crystal cavities from cubic (3C) thin films (thickness ~ 200 nm) of silicon carbide (SiC) grown epitaxially on a silicon substrate. We demonstrate cavity resonances across the telecommunications band, with wavelengths from 1,250 - 1,600 nm. Finally, we discuss possible applications in nonlinear optics, optical interconnects, and quantum information science.
Neutrally charged divacancies in silicon carbide (SiC) are paramagnetic color centers whose long coherence times and near-telecom operating wavelengths make them promising for scalable quantum communication technologies compatible with existing fiber optic networks. However, local strain inhomogeneity can randomly perturb their optical transition frequencies, which degrades the indistinguishability of photons emitted from separate defects, and hinders their coupling to optical cavities. Here we show that electric fields can be used to tune the optical transition frequencies of single neutral d…
Transition metal ions provide a rich set of optically active defect spins in wide bandgap semiconductors. Chromium (Cr4+) in silicon-carbide (SiC) produces a spin-1 ground state with a narrow, spectrally isolated, spin-selective, near-telecom optical interface. However, previous studies were hindered by material quality resulting in limited coherent control. In this work, we implant Cr into commercial 4H-SiC and show optimal defect activation after annealing above 1600 C. We measure an ensemble optical hole linewidth of 31 MHz, an order of magnitude improvement compared to as-grown samples. An…
Optically active spins in solid-state systems can be engineered to emit photons that are entangled with the spin in the solid. This allows for applications such as quantum communications, quantum key distribution, and distributed quantum computing. Recently, there has been a strong interest in silicon carbide defects, as they emit very close to the telecommunication wavelength, making them excellent candidates for long range quantum communications. In this work we develop explicit schemes for spin-photon entanglement in several SiC defects: the silicon monovacancy, the silicon divacancy, and t…
Silicon carbide (SiC)-based defects are promising for quantum communications, quantum information processing, and for the next generation of quantum sensors, as they feature long coherence times, frequencies near the telecom, and optical and microwave transitions. For such applications, the efficient initialization of the spin state is necessary. We develop a theoretical description of the spin polarization process by using the intersystem crossing of the silicon vacancy defect, which is enabled by a combination of optical driving, spin-orbit coupling, and interaction with vibrational modes. B…
Silicon Carbide is a promising host material for spin defect based quantum sensors owing to its commercial availability and established techniques for electrical and optical microfabricated device integration. The negatively charged silicon vacancy is one of the leading spin defects studied in silicon carbide owing to its near telecom photoemission, high spin number, and nearly temperature independent ground state zero field splitting. We report the realization of nanoTesla shot-noise limited ensemble magnetometry based on optically detected magnetic resonance with the silicon vacancy in 4H si…
Masers as telecommunication amplifiers have been known for decades, yet their application is strongly limited due to extreme operating conditions requiring vacuum techniques and cryogenic temperatures. Recently, a new generation of masers has been invented based on optically pumped spin states in pentacene and diamond. In this study, we pave the way for masers based on spin S = 3/2 silicon vacancy (V$_{Si}$) defects in silicon carbide (SiC) to overcome the microwave generation threshold and discuss the advantages of this highly developed spin hosting material. To achieve population inversion, …
Room temperature Purcell enhanced single erbium ions in silicon-carbide-on-insulator microring resonators
RMIT University（皇家墨尔本理工大学）；National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology（国立量子科学技术研究院）；The University of Melbourne（墨尔本大学）；Carnegie Mellon University（卡内基梅隆大学）
Quantum communication networks with defects in silicon carbide
Austrian Academy of Sciences（奥地利科学院）；Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology, Atominstitut, TU Wien（维也纳量子科学与技术中心，原子研究所，维也纳工业大学）；Quantum Technology Laboratories GmbH (qtlabs)（量子技术实验室有限公司）；University of Vienna（维也纳大学）；Heriot-Watt University（赫瑞-瓦特大学）
Transition metal (TM) defects in silicon carbide (SiC) are a promising platform in quantum technology, especially because some TM defects emit in the telecom band. We develop a theory for the interaction of an active electron in the $D$-shell of a TM defect in SiC with the TM nuclear spin and derive the effective hyperfine tensor within the Kramers doublets formed by the spin-orbit coupling. Based on our theory we discuss the possibility to exchange the nuclear and electron states with potential applications for nuclear spin manipulation and long-lived nunclear-spin based quantum memories.
Paramagnetic point defects in solids may exhibit a rich set of interesting and not yet fully resolved physics. In particular, character of wavefunctions and electron-phonon coupling in these defects may highly influence their interaction with external magnetic fields. Complex interplay between the electronic orbitals, phonons and electron spin determines the effective pseudospin of the system that we demonstrate on vanadium and molybdenum defects in hexagonal silicon carbide (SiC) by means of \textit{ab initio} calculations. In this Rapid Communication, we find a giant anisotropy in the $g$-te…
Rare-earth related electron spins in crystalline hosts are unique material systems, as they can potentially provide a direct interface between telecom band photons and long-lived spin quantum bits. Specifically, their optically accessible electron spins in solids interacting with nuclear spins in their environment are valuable quantum memory resources. Detection of nearby individual nuclear spins, so far exclusively shown for few dilute nuclear spin bath host systems such as the NV center in diamond or the silicon vacancy in silicon carbide, remained an open challenge for rare-earths in their …
Solid-state point defects are attracting increasing attention in the field of quantum information science, because their localized states can act as a spin-photon interface in devices that store and transfer quantum information, which have been used for applications in quantum computing, sensing, and networking. In this work we have performed high-throughput calculations of over 50,000 point defects in various semiconductors including diamond, silicon carbide, and silicon. Focusing on quantum applications, we characterize the relevant optical and electronic properties of these defects, includi…
