Electronic transitions of single silicon vacancy centers in the near-infrared spectral region

Abstract

Photoluminescence (PL) spectra of single silicon vacancy (SiV) centers in diamond frequently feature very narrow room temperature PL lines in the near-infrared (NIR) spectral region, mostly between 820 nm and 840 nm, in addition to the well known zero-phonon-line (ZPL) at approx. 738 nm [E. Neu et al., Phys. Rev. B 84, 205211 (2011)]. We here exemplarily prove for a single SiV center that this NIR PL is due to an additional purely electronic transition (ZPL). For the NIR line at 822.7 nm, we find a room temperature linewidth of 1.4 nm (2.6 meV). The line saturates at similar excitation power as the ZPL. ZPL and NIR line exhibit identical polarization properties. Cross-correlation measurements between the ZPL and the NIR line reveal anti-correlated emission and prove that the lines originate from a single SiV center, furthermore indicating a fast switching between the transitions (0.7 ns). g (2) auto-correlation measurements exclude that the NIR line is a vibronic sideband or that it arises due to a transition from/to a meta-stable (shelving) state.

Electron–phonon processes of the silicon-vacancy centre in diamond

“…Our measurements do not, however, provide enough information to distinguish whether the system decays from E 2 u directly to a higher vibrational state of E 2 g , or to an unidentified electronic level closer to E 2 u in energy. Whilst there exists some ab initio [25] and experimental [37] evidence of an additional electronic level below the excited E 2 u level, this evidence conflicts with the simple molecular orbital model of the centres electronic structure [21][22][23][24], which predicts no such additional level.…”

Heralded Photonic Interaction between Distant Single Ions

“…Among the systems with which single-photon absorption by a single absorber has been observed [16][17][18], single ions stand out for their unique prospect of integrating atom-photon interfaces with multiqubit quantum logic. The results also offer the perspective of photonic interaction between different single quantum systems in a hybrid quantum network, e.g., between ions and solid-state emitters or absorbers [31], possibly assisted by quantum frequency conversion [32] to bridge the gap between different wavelengths.…”

Determination of temperature dependent parameters of zero-phonon line in photo-luminescence spectrum of silicon-vacancy centre in CVD diamond thin films

“…A near infrared SiV PL exhibits a short lifetime of 1.2 ns [6]. The importance of SiV centres study arises from common silicon contamination in diamonds prepared by the microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (CVD) process due to the etching of Si substrates, quartz windows or bell jars [12].…”

“…Optimal gas composition and substrate temperature resulting in maximal PL activity were reported in [16]. To identify the origin of SiV centre electronic transitions, structure and geometry, ab initio calculations [17], EPR measurements and study of their optical properties in polarized light [11,12,18] were performed. Subsequently, a model of SiV centre energy levels within the band gap was proposed.…”