Unusual temperature dependence of the photoluminescence emission of MgV centers in diamond

Abstract

Magnesium-and germanium-vacancy centers were produced in diamond by ion implantation and the post-annealing process. Photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) measurements were performed between 20 and 50 °C. The PL results of the GeV centers are in agreement with those found in the literature, while the MgV center is newly discovered and a not yet broadly investigated color center, but the room temperature PL results are in agreement with the first report. The temperature dependence of the MgV centers above room temperature is unusual: by increasing the temperature, its PL shifts to higher energies, contrary to what is observed for the GeV centers and other known centers in the literature. The zero phonon line width of both centers broadens by increasing the temperature in both investigated centers. The origin of the blue shift observed in the MgV centers as a confinement effect is discarded, because sample is bulk and its origin should lay on the influence of the temperature on the local static structure and the overlapping of the electronic wave functions. Our results show the ability of MgV to be used in future for thermometry. The center is bright and photostable, with a narrow full width at half maximum compared to other centers in diamond and its shift with the temperature is also larger.

Solid-State Color Centers for Single-Photon Generation

“…Color centers based on Si (ZPL, at 738 nm) [36], Ge (602 nm) [37], Sn (620 nm) [38], and Pb (552 nm) [39] atoms share the same split-vacancy configuration and similar properties, such as a narrow emission line (Figure 2a), ~ns excited state lifetimes, Fourier-transform-limited emission, and an addressable ground-state splitting for quantum information processing [40][41][42][43]. Several additional emerging classes of interest are currently being explored in an attempt to map the optical activity of impurities incorporated in the diamond lattice, including the Mg-related-split-vacancy defects [23,44], the oxygen-related ST1 center [45], and noble gas impurities [46,47]. The main strength of these classes of color centers lies in their room-temperature operation, although there are unavoidable limitations in the degree of indistinguishability, and in their high photon emission rates (above 10 6 photons/s for several classes of defects [23,39,48]).…”

Luminescence Thermometry Beyond the Biological Realm

“…A limited number of studies have also explored the use of NV center excited state lifetimes for thermometry, ,, providing another all-optical approach, which is discussed further in Section (Time-Resolved Measurements). More recently, other color centers beyond NV centers have gained traction for thermometry, such as silicon vacancy (SiV), − germanium vacancy (GeV), − tin vacancy (SnV), and magnesium vacancy (MgV) centers, all of which enable all-optical thermometry. A diverse range of physical mechanisms gives rise to the temperature-dependent emission signals used for color center-based thermometry.…”

Polymorphs of 17O-Implanted ST1 Spin Centers in Diamond and Spectroscopy of Strongly Coupled 13C Nuclear Spins

“…Solid-state defect centers are nowadays a system of choice for quantum applications. − The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond pioneered the field of quantum sensing, enabling new perspectives for sensing of a magnetic field, an electric field, temperature, or pressure, but also envisaging NV qubits for a room-temperature diamond-based quantum computer thanks to its unique optical and spin properties. Other solid-state defect centers are also intensively studied such as column IV impurity–vacancy, , MgV − or TR12 , in diamond, G, W, and other centers in silicon, − vacancies in hBN or vacancies, V 2 and NV in silicon carbide. , …”