Among the wide variety of single fluorescent defects investigated in silicon, numerous studies have focused on color centers with a zero-phonon line around 1.28μm and identified to a common carbon-complex in silicon, namely the G center. However, inconsistent estimates regarding their quantum efficiency cast doubt on the correct identification of these individual emitters. Through a comparative analysis of their single-photon emission properties, we demonstrate that these single color centers are split in two distinct families of point defects. A first family consists of the genuine single G centers with a well-identified microscopic structure and whose photoluminescence has been investigated on ensemble measurements since the 60's. The remaining defects belong to a new color center, which we will refer to as G⋆ center, whose atomic configuration has yet to be determined. These results provide a safeguard against future defect misidentifications, which is crucial for further development of quantum technologies relying on G or G⋆ center quantum properties.
@article{arxiv.2402.07705,
title = {Genuine and faux single G centers in carbon-implanted silicon},
author = {Alrik Durand and Yoann Baron and Félix Cache and Tobias Herzig and Mario Khoury and Sébastien Pezzagna and Jan Meijer and Jean-Michel Hartmann and Shay Reboh and Marco Abbarchi and Isabelle Robert-Philip and Jean-Michel Gérard and Vincent Jacques and Guillaume Cassabois and Anaïs Dréau},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2402.07705},
year = {2024}
}