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-optical identification and coherent control of molybdenum-impurity spins in silicon carbide with transitions at near-infrared wavelengths. Our results identify spin S=1/2 for both the electronic ground and excited state, with highly anisotropic spin properties that we apply for implementing optical control of ground-state spin coherence. Our results show optical lifetimes of ∼60 ns and inhomogeneous spin dephasing times of ∼0.3 μs, establishing relevance for quantum spin-photon interfacing.
@article{arxiv.1802.06714,
title = {Identification and tunable optical coherent control of transition-metal spins in silicon carbide},
author = {Tom Bosma and Gerrit J. J. Lof and Carmem M. Gilardoni and Olger V. Zwier and Freddie Hendriks and Björn Magnusson and Alexandre Ellison and Andreas Gällström and Ivan G. Ivanov and N. T. Son and Remco W. A. Havenith and Caspar H. van der Wal},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1802.06714},
year = {2018}
}
Comments
Updated version with minor correction, full Supplementary Information included