Observation of an environmentally insensitive solid state spin defect in diamond

• Published in: arXiv.org 2017-06
• Main Authors: Rose, Brendon C, Huang, Ding, Zhang, Zi-Huai, Tyryshkin, Alexei M, Sangtawesin, Sorawis, Srinivasan, Srikanth, Loudin, Lorne, Markham, Matthew L, Edmonds, Andrew M, Twitchen, Daniel J, Lyon, Stephen A, de Leon, Nathalie P
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Color centers; Diamonds; Electric fields; Environmental impact; Lattice vacancies; Optical properties; Optical transition; Phonons; Silicon; Solid state; Spin-lattice relaxation
• ISSN: 2331-8422
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1706.01555

Engineering coherent systems is a central goal of quantum science. Color centers in diamond are a promising approach, with the potential to combine the coherence of atoms with the scalability of a solid state platform. However, the solid environment can adversely impact coherence. For example, phonon- mediated spin relaxation can induce spin decoherence, and electric field noise can change the optical transition frequency over time. We report a novel color center with insensitivity to both of these sources of environmental decoherence: the neutral charge state of silicon vacancy (SiV0). Through careful material engineering, we achieve over 80% conversion of implanted silicon to SiV0. SiV0 exhibits excellent spin properties, with spin-lattice relaxation times (T1) approaching one minute and coherence times (T2) approaching one second, as well as excellent optical properties, with approximately 90% of its emission into the zero-phonon line and near-transform limited optical linewidths. These combined properties make SiV0 a promising defect for quantum networks.