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Quantum control of spin centers in silicon carbide with microcavities

Subject Area Experimental Condensed Matter Physics
Term from 2016 to 2021
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 323228505
 
Final Report Year 2022

Final Report Abstract

In this project, we have demonstrated fabrication of single photon emitters in SiC and silicon using ion implantation. Particularly, we have established the creation yield for each case. We have investigated the influence of the irradiation conditions on the spin-lattice relaxation time and the spin coherence time of optically addressable spin qubits in SiC. We have realized coherent manipulation spin multiplets using optical and microwave fields, which can provide noise-resistant quantum cryptography, simplify quantum logic and improve quantum metrology. We have uncovered the local vibrational modes of the Si vacancy spin qubits in as-grown 4H-SiC. To do this, we have applied microwave-assisted spectroscopy to isolate the contribution from one particular type of defects, the so-called V2 center, and observe the zero-phonon line together with seven equally separated phonon replicas. Furthermore, we have presented first-principles calculations of the photoluminescence line shape, which are in excellent agreement with our experimental data. Next, we have investigated the pump efficiency of silicon-vacancy-related spins in silicon carbide and found realistic conditions under which a silicon carbide maser can operate in continuous-wave mode and serve as a quantum microwave amplifier. We have proposed all-optical protocols based on spin-mechanical resonance to detect external magnetic fields and mass with ultrahigh sensitivity. We have also discussed nonlinear effects under strong optical pumping, including spin-mediated cooling and heating of mechanical modes. We have reported on acoustically driven spin resonances in atomic-scale centers in SiC. We have developed a microscopic model of the spin-acoustic interaction, which describes our experimental data without fitting parameters. These results have established SiC as a highly promising hybrid platform for on-chip spin-optomechanical quantum control. Moreover, we have demonstrated that due to polytypism of SiC, a particular type of silicon vacancy qubits in 6H-SiC possesses an unusual inverted fine structure. From the angular polarization dependencies of the emission, we have reconstructed the spatial symmetry and determined the optical selection rules depending on the local deformation and spin-orbit interaction, enabling direct implementation of robust spin-photon entanglement schemes. Our experimental and theoretical approaches provide a deep insight into the optical and spin properties of atomic-scale qubits in SiC required for quantum communication and distributed quantum information processing. Finally, two directions for follow-up research are identified. The first approach is based on the integration of silicon vacancy qubits with robust spin-photon interface (i.e., in certain SiC polytype 6H) into nanophotonic waveguides. Such quantum gates reveal a strong potential for quantum communication. The second approach envisions a concept of a highly-coherent scalable quantum photonic platform, where single-photon sources, waveguides and detectors are integrated on a SOI chip. It provides a route towards the implementation of quantum processors, repeaters and sensors compatible with the present-day silicon technology.

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