Identification of nickel-vacancy defect in the photocurrent spectrum of diamond by means of \emph{ab initio} calculations

TL;DR

This paper combines experimental photoionization spectra with  ab initio calculations to identify nickel-vacancy defects in diamond, revealing their potential for IR-operable quantum bits with electrical readout.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method of identifying nickel-vacancy defects in diamond by matching experimental spectra with theoretical calculations, advancing quantum technology applications.

Findings

Identification of two new ionization thresholds in diamond.

Matching experimental spectra with NiV defect calculations.

Potential for IR-based electrically readout qubits.

Abstract

There is a continuous search for solid-state spin qubits operating at room temperature with excitation in the IR communication bandwidth. Recently we have introduced the photoelectric detection of magnetic resonance (PDMR) to read the electron spin state of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond, a technique which is promising for applications in quantum information technology. By measuring photoionization spectra on a diamond crystal we found two ionization thresholds that were not reported before. On the same sample we also observed absorption and photoluminescence signatures that were identified in literature as Ni associated defects. We performed \emph{ab initio} calculation of the photo-ionization cross-section of the nickel split vacancy complex (NiV) and N-related defects in their relevant charge states and fitted the concentration of these defects to the measured photocurrent spectrum, which led to a surprising match between experimental and calculated spectra. This study enabled to identify the two unknown ionization thresholds with the two acceptor levels of NiV. Because the excitation of NiV is in infrared, the photocurrent detected from the paramagnetic NiV color centers is a promising way towards designing a novel type of electrically readout qubits.