Isolation and Control of Spins in Silicon Carbide with Millisecond-Coherence Times

ORAL

Abstract

The elimination of defects from silicon carbide (SiC) has facilitated its move to the forefront of the optoelectronics and power-electronics industries. Nonetheless, because the electronic states of SiC defects can have sharp optical and spin transitions, they are increasingly recognized as a valuable resource for quantum-information and nanoscale-sensing applications. We demonstrate that individual electronic spin states of the divacancy defect in highly purified monocrystalline 4H-SiC can be isolated and coherently controlled\footnote{D. J. Christle, A. L. Falk, P. Andrich, P. V. Klimov, J. Hassan, N. T. Son, E. Janz\'{e}n, T. Ohshima, and D. D. Awschalom, Nat. Mater. (to be published)}. This defect has analogous behavior to the prominent nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond, yet exists in a material amenable to modern growth and microfabrication techniques. We spectroscopically identify the different forms of divacancies, and show that divacancy spins exhibit an exceptionally long ensemble Hahn-echo coherence time that exceeds one millisecond.

*Funding by NSF, AFOSR MURI, and the Knut \& Alice Wallenberg Foundation is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors

  • David J. Christle

    • Institute for Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago

  • Abram L. Falk

    • Institute for Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago

  • Paolo Andrich

    • University of Chicago
    • Institute for Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago

  • Paul V. Klimov

    • University of California, Santa Barbara and University of Chicago
    • Institute for Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago

  • David D. Awschalom

    • Institute for Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago
    • Institute for Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637 \& Dept. of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106

  • Jawad Ul Hassan

    • Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, Link\"{o}ping University

  • Nguyen T. Son

    • Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, Link\"{o}ping University

  • Erik Janz\'{e}n

    • Link\"oping University
    • Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, Link\"{o}ping University

  • Takeshi Ohshima

    • Japan Atomic Energy Agency