Charge state transition of spectrally stabilized tin-vacancy centers in diamond

TL;DR

This study investigates the spectral stability and charge state transitions of tin-vacancy centers in diamond, revealing conditions for maintaining stable emission and modeling the charge dynamics under laser irradiation.

Contribution

It provides experimental insights into the stability of SnV centers and introduces first-principles modeling of their charge state transitions under laser exposure.

Findings

SnV centers exhibit stable, narrow linewidth emission over time.

Simultaneous resonant and non-resonant laser irradiation causes spectral instability.

Charge state transition rates depend on laser power and are quantitatively analyzed.

Abstract

Solid-state quantum emitters are an important platform for quantum information processing. The fabrication of the emitters with stable photon frequency and narrow linewidth is a fundamental issue, and it is essential to understand optical conditions under which the emitter keeps a bright charge state or transitions to a dark state. For these purposes, in this study, we investigate the spectral stability and charge state transition of tin-vacancy (SnV) centers in diamond. The photoluminescence excitation spectra of multiple SnV centers are basically stable over time with nearly transform-limited linewidths under resonant excitation, while simultaneous irradiation of resonant and non-resonant lasers makes spectra from the SnV centers unstable. We find that the instability occurs due to the charge state transition to a dark state. The charge state transition rates are quantitatively investigated depending on the laser powers. Lastly, with first-principle calculations, we model the charge state transition of the SnV center under the laser irradiation.