Optically addressable silicon vacancy-related spin centers in rhombic silicon carbide with high breakdown characteristics and ENDOR evidence of their structure

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of silicon vacancy-related spin centers in rhombic silicon carbide that exhibit high-temperature optical addressability and detailed structural understanding via ENDOR, advancing quantum defect research.

Contribution

It introduces a new class of optically addressable silicon vacancy centers in rhombic SiC with unique spin and optical properties, and elucidates their structure using high-frequency ENDOR.

Findings

Centers exhibit ODMR contrast and spin alignment up to 250°C

Identified as negatively charged silicon vacancies perturbed by neutral carbon vacancies

Structural model established using high-frequency ENDOR

Abstract

We discovered uniaxial oriented centers in silicon carbide having unusual performance. Here we demonstrate that the family of silicon-vacancy related centers with $S= 3/2$ in rhombic 15R-SiC crystalline matrix possess unique characteristics such as ODMR contrast and optical spin alignment existing at temperatures up to 250$^\circ$C. Thus the concept of optically addressable silicon vacancy related centers with half integer ground spin state is extended to the wide class of SiC rhombic polytypes. The structure of these centers, which is a fundamental problem for quantum applications, has been established using high frequency ENDOR. It has been shown that a family of siliconvacancy related centers is a negatively charged silicon vacancy in the paramagnetic state with the spin $S= 3/2$, V$_\textrm{Si}^-$, perturbed by neutral carbon vacancy in non-paramagnetic state, V$_\textrm{C}^0$, having no covalent bond with the silicon vacancy and located adjacently to the silicon vacancy on the c crystal axis.