Controlling the quantum properties of individual fluorescent defects in silicon is a key challenge towards advanced quantum photonic devices prone to scalability. Research efforts have so far focused on extrinsic defects based on impurities incorporated inside the silicon lattice. Here we demonstrate the detection of single intrinsic defects in silicon, which are linked to a tri-interstitial complex called W-center, with a zero-phonon line at 1.218μm. Investigating their single-photon emission properties reveals new information about this common radiation damage center, such as its dipolar orientation and its photophysics. We also identify its microscopic structure and show that although this defect does not feature electronic states in the bandgap, Coulomb interactions lead to excitonic radiative recombination below the silicon bandgap. These results could set the stage for numerous quantum perspectives based on intrinsic luminescent defects in silicon, such as quantum integrated photonics, quantum communications and quantum sensing.
@article{arxiv.2108.04283,
title = {Detection of single W-centers in silicon},
author = {Yoann Baron and Alrik Durand and Péter Udvarhelyi and Tobias Herzig and Mario Khoury and Sébastien Pezzagna and Jan Meijer and Isabelle Robert-Philip and Marco Abbarchi and Jean-Michel Hartmann and Vincent Mazzocchi and Jean-Michel Gérard and Adam Gali and Vincent Jacques and Guillaume Cassabois and Anaïs Dréau},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2108.04283},
year = {2022}
}