Observation of an environmentally insensitive solid-state spin defect in diamond.

Rose, Brendon C; Huang, Ding; Zhang, Zi-Huai; Stevenson, Paul; Tyryshkin, Alexei M; Sangtawesin, Sorawis; Srinivasan, Srikanth; Loudin, Lorne et al. · Science · 2018

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

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. We report a color center that shows insensitivity to environmental decoherence caused by phonons and electric field noise: the neutral charge state of silicon vacancy (SiV<sup>0</sup>). Through careful materials engineering, we achieved >80% conversion of implanted silicon to SiV<sup>0</sup> SiV<sup>0</sup> exhibits spin-lattice relaxation times approaching 1 minute and coherence times approaching 1 second. Its optical properties are very favorable, with ~90% of its emission into the zero-phonon line and near-transform-limited optical linewidths. These combined properties make SiV<sup>0</sup> a promising defect for quantum network applications.