Optical and Strain Stabilization of Point Defects in Silicon Carbide

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates enhanced optical and spin properties of silicon carbide defects through waveguide fabrication and thermal control, enabling improved emitter stability and strain measurement for quantum applications.

Contribution

It introduces a method to enhance defect photoluminescence and measure spin-strain coupling in silicon carbide using waveguide structures and controlled annealing.

Findings

Photoluminescence of defects is increased by an order of magnitude in waveguides.

Waveguide structures enable detailed study of defect recombination and diffusion.

Mechanical confinement allows precise measurement of spin-strain interactions.

Abstract

The photoluminescence and spin properties of ensembles of color centers in silicon carbide are enhanced by fabricating optically isolated slab waveguide structures and carefully controlling annealing and cooling conditions. We find that the photoluminescence signal of an ensemble of implanted defects is enhanced in slab waveguides by an order of magnitude over identically implanted bulk defects. The slab waveguide-enhanced photoluminescence of several defect species is used to study recombination and diffusion in the presence of thermal annealing with both rapid quench cooling and a longer return to ambient conditions. The confined mechanical geometry of the thin film is exploited to measure the spin-strain coupling of the negatively charged silicon monovacancy. The methods in this work can be used to exercise greater control on near-surface emitters in silicon carbide and better understand and control the effects of strain on spin measurements of silicon carbide based color centers.