Optical probing of phononic properties of a tin-vacancy color center in diamond

TL;DR

This study uses optical techniques to explore the phononic and orbital properties of a tin-vacancy color center in diamond, revealing rapid orbital depolarization and implications for spin coherence.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the phononic interactions and orbital dynamics of tin-vacancy centers, including picosecond-scale depolarization times.

Findings

Orbital depolarization timescale of approximately 30 ps.

Spectral information transformed into time domain with picosecond resolution.

Estimated spin dephasing times limited by thermal effects.

Abstract

The coherence characteristics of a tin-vacancy color center in diamond are investigated through optical means including coherent population trapping between the ground state orbital levels and linewidth broadening effects. Due to the large spin-orbit splitting of the orbital ground states, thermalization between the ground states occurs at rates that are impractical to measure directly. Here, spectral information is transformed into its conjugate variable time, providing picosecond resolution and revealing an orbital depolarization timescale of ${\sim30{\rm~ps}}$. Consequences of the investigated dynamics are then used to estimate spin dephasing times limited by thermal effects.