T centres in photonic silicon-on-insulator material

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the creation of high-density T centre ensembles in silicon-on-insulator wafers via ion implantation, and introduces a new optical benchmarking method to measure spectral diffusion, advancing solid-state quantum interfaces.

Contribution

It presents a reliable fabrication process for T centres in SOI and a novel optical technique to assess spectral diffusion in these defect ensembles.

Findings

High-density T centres can be created in SOI layers.

The new benchmarking method effectively measures spectral diffusion.

T centres near interfaces show ~1 GHz spectral diffusion levels.

Abstract

Global quantum networks will benefit from the reliable creation and control of high-performance solid-state telecom photon-spin interfaces. T radiation damage centres in silicon provide a promising photon-spin interface due to their narrow O-band optical transition near 1326 nm and long-lived electron and nuclear spin lifetimes. To date, these defect centres have only been studied as ensembles in bulk silicon. Here, we demonstrate the reliable creation of high concentration T centre ensembles in the 220 nm device layer of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers by ion implantation and subsequent annealing. We then develop a method that uses spin-dependent optical transitions to benchmark the characteristic optical spectral diffusion within these T centre ensembles. Using this new technique, we show that with minimal optimization to the fabrication process high densities of implanted T centres localized $\lesssim$100 nm from an interface display ~1 GHz characteristic levels of total spectral diffusion.