Ultra-narrow inhomogeneous spectral distribution of telecom-wavelength vanadium centres in isotopically-enriched silicon carbide.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 38114478.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-023-43923-7 and PMC identifier 10730896.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Spin-active quantum emitters have emerged as a leading platform for quantum technologies. However, one of their major limitations is the large spread in optical emission frequencies, which typically extends over tens of GHz. Here, we investigate single V<sup>4+</sup> vanadium centres in 4H-SiC, which feature telecom-wavelength emission and a coherent S = 1/2 spin state. We perform spectroscopy on single emitters and report the observation of spin-dependent optical transitions, a key requirement for spin-photon interfaces. By engineering the isotopic composition of the SiC matrix, we reduce the inhomogeneous spectral distribution of different emitters down to 100 MHz, significantly smaller than any other single quantum emitter. Additionally, we tailor the dopant concentration to stabilise the telecom-wavelength V<sup>4+</sup> charge state, thereby extending its lifetime by at least two orders of magnitude. These results bolster the prospects for single V emitters in SiC as material nodes in scalable telecom quantum networks.