Greg Calusine

Room temperature coherent control of defect spin qubits in silicon carbide

Electronic spins in semiconductors have been used extensively to explore the limits of external control over quantum mechanical phenomena. A long-standing goal of this research has been to identify or develop robust quantum systems that can be easily manipulated, for future use in advanced information and communication technologies. Recently, a point defect in diamond known as the nitrogen–vacancy centre has attracted a great deal of interest because it possesses an atomic-scale electronic spin state that can be used as an individually addressable, solid-state quantum bit (qubit), even at room temperature. These exceptional quantum properties have motivated efforts to identify similar defects in other semiconductors, as they may offer an expanded range of functionality not available to the diamond nitrogen–vacancy centre. Notably, several defects in silicon carbide (SiC) have been suggested as good candidates for exploration, owing to a combination of computational predictions and magnetic resonance data. Here we demonstrate that several defect spin states in the 4H polytype of SiC (4H-SiC) can be optically addressed and coherently controlled in the time domain at temperatures ranging from 20 to 300 kelvin. Using optical and microwave techniques similar to those used with diamond nitrogen–vacancy qubits, we study the spin-1 ground state of each of four inequivalent forms of the neutral carbon–silicon divacancy, as well as a pair of defect spin states of unidentified origin. These defects are optically active near telecommunication wavelengths, and are found in a host material for which there already exist industrial-scale crystal growth and advanced microfabrication techniques. In addition, they possess desirable spin coherence properties that are comparable to those of the diamond nitrogen–vacancy centre. This makes them promising candidates for various photonic, spintronic and quantum information applications that merge quantum degrees of freedom with classical electronic and optical technologies.

Polytype control of spin qubits in silicon carbide.

Crystal defects can confine isolated electronic spins and are promising candidates for solid-state quantum information. Alongside research focusing on nitrogen-vacancy centres in diamond, an alternative strategy seeks to identify new spin systems with an expanded set of technological capabilities, a materials-driven approach that could ultimately lead to ‘designer’ spins with tailored properties. Here we show that the 4H, 6H and 3C polytypes of SiC all host coherent and optically addressable defect spin states, including states in all three with room-temperature quantum coherence. The prevalence of this spin coherence shows that crystal polymorphism can be a degree of freedom for engineering spin qubits. Long spin coherence times allow us to use double electron–electron resonance to measure magnetic dipole interactions between spin ensembles in inequivalent lattice sites of the same crystal. Together with the distinct optical and spin transition energies of such inequivalent states, these interactions provide a route to dipole-coupled networks of separately addressable spins.

Electrically and mechanically tunable electron spins in silicon carbide color centers.

The electron spins of semiconductor defects can have complex interactions with their host, particularly in polar materials like SiC where electrical and mechanical variables are intertwined. By combining pulsed spin resonance with ab initio simulations, we show that spin-spin interactions in 4H-SiC neutral divacancies give rise to spin states with a strong Stark effect, sub-10(-6) strain sensitivity, and highly spin-dependent photoluminescence with intensity contrasts of 15%-36%. These results establish SiC color centers as compelling systems for sensing nanoscale electric and strain fields.

Silicon carbide photonic crystal cavities with integrated color centers

The recent discovery of color centers with optically addressable spin states in 3C silicon carbide (SiC) similar to the negatively charged nitrogen vacancy center in diamond has the potential to enable the integration of defect qubits into established wafer scale device architectures for quantum information and sensing applications. Here, we demonstrate the design, fabrication, and characterization of photonic crystal cavities in 3C SiC films with incorporated ensembles of color centers and quality factor (Q) to mode volume ratios similar to those achieved in diamond. Simulations show that optimized H1 and L3 structures exhibit Qs as high as 45 000 and mode volumes of approximately (λ/n)3. We utilize the internal color centers as a source of broadband excitation to characterize fabricated structures with resonances tuned to the color center zero phonon line and observe Qs in the range of 900–1500 with narrowband photoluminescence collection enhanced by up to a factor of 10. By comparing the Q factors ob...

Cavity-enhanced measurements of defect spins in silicon carbide

The identification of new solid-state defect-qubit candidates in widely used semiconductors has the potential to enable the use of nanofabricated devices for enhanced qubit measurement and control operations. In particular, the recent discovery of optically active spin states in silicon carbide thin films offers a scalable route for incorporating defect qubits into on-chip photonic devices. Here, we demonstrate the use of 3C silicon carbide photonic crystal cavities for enhanced excitation of color-center defect spin ensembles in order to increase measured photoluminescence signal count rates, optically detected magnetic-resonance signal intensities, and optical spin initialization rates. We observe an up to a factor of 30 increase in the photoluminescence and optically detected magnetic-resonance signals from Ky5 color centers excited by cavity-resonant excitation and increase the rate of ground-state spin initialization by approximately a factor of 2. Furthermore, we show that the 705-fold reduction in excitation mode volume and enhanced excitation and collection efficiencies provided by the structures can be used to overcome inhomogenous broadening in order to facilitate the study of defect-qubit subensemble properties. These results highlight some of the benefits that nanofabricated devices offer for engineering the local photonic environment of color-center defect qubits to enable applications in quantum information and sensing