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Scientific Reports

Germanium-Vacancy Single Color Centers in Diamond

Takayuki Iwasaki, Fumitaka Ishibashi, Yoshiyuki Miyamoto, Yuki Doi, Satoshi Kobayashi, Takehide Miyazaki, Kosuke Tahara, Kay D. Jahnke, Lachlan J. Rogers, Boris Naydenov, Fedor Jelezko, Satoshi Yamasaki, Shinji Nagamachi, Toshiro Inubushi, Norikazu Mizuochi, Mutsuko Hatano

Published Aug 7, 2015• 353 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Atomic-sized fluorescent defects in diamond are widely recognized as a promising solid state platform for quantum cryptography and quantum information processing. For these applications, single photon sources with a high intensity and reproducible fabrication methods are required. In this study, we report a novel color center in diamond, composed of a germanium (Ge) and a vacancy (V) and named the GeV center, which has a sharp and strong photoluminescence band with a zero-phonon line at 602 nm at room temperature. We demonstrate this new color center works as a single photon source. Both ion implantation and chemical vapor deposition techniques enabled fabrication of GeV centers in diamond. A first-principles calculation revealed the atomic crystal structure and energy levels of the GeV center.

DOI
10.1038/srep12882

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The Journal of Physical Chemistry C•Jul 30, 2021•18 citations
Atomic-sized fluorescent defects in diamond are widely recognized as a promising solid state platform for quantum cryptography and quantum information processing. For these applications, single photon sources with a high intensity and reproducible fabrication methods are required. In this study, we report a novel color center in diamond, composed of a germanium (Ge) and a vacancy (V) and named the GeV center, which has a sharp and strong photoluminescence band with a zero-phonon line at 602 nm at room temperature. We demonstrate this new color center works as a single photon source. Both ion implantation and chemical vapor deposition techniques enabled fabrication of GeV centers in diamond. A first-principles calculation revealed the atomic crystal structure and energy levels of the GeV center.
Color centers in diamond are widely recognized as a promising solid state platform for quantum cryptography and quantum information processing. For these applications, single photon sources with a high intensity and reproducible fabrication methods are required. Here, we report a novel color center in diamond, composed of a germanium (Ge) and a vacancy (V) and named the GeV center, which has a sharp and strong photoluminescence band with a zero-phonon line at 602 nm at room temperature. We demonstrate this new color center works as a single photon source. Both ion implantation and chemical vapor deposition techniques enabled fabrication of GeV centers in diamond. A first-principles calculation revealed the atomic crystal structure and energy levels of the GeV center.
Silicon-vacancy (SiV) centers in diamond are gaining an increased interest for application, such as in quantum technologies and sensing. Due to the strong luminescence concentrated in its sharp zero-phonon line at room temperature, SiV centers are being investigated as single-photon sources for quantum communication, and also as temperature probes for sensing. Here, we discussed strategies for the fabrication of SiV centers in diamond based on Si-ion implantation followed by thermal activation. SiV color centers in high-quality single crystals have the best optical properties, but polycrystalline micro and nanostructures are interesting for applications in nano-optics. Moreover, we discuss the photoluminescence properties of SiV centers in phosphorous-doped diamond, which are relevant for the creation of electroluminescent devices, and nanophotonics strategies to improve the emission characteristics of the SiV centers. Finally, the optical properties of such centers at room and high temperatures show the robustness of the center and give perspectives for temperature-sensing applications.
The development of reliable devices to generate single photons is crucial for applications in quantum cryptography, as well as for fundamental quantum optics experiments. Due to their extremely high photostability at room temperature, optically active defects in solids, the so called color centers, are among the most promising candidates. Single NV (nitrogen-vacancy) centers in diamond have been demonstrated to be able to generate single photons and have already shown advantages compared to attenuated laser pulses in a quantum cryptography experiment. The nitrogen-vacancy center (NV center) in diamond consists of a substitutional nitrogen atom and an adjacent vacancy. This complex exhibits an optical transition with a fluorescence lifetime of 11.6 ns. The room temperature spectrum of the NV center consists of the zero-phonon line at 637 nm and broad phononic sidebands with a FWHM of more than 100 nm. Due to the existence of a shelving level the efficiency of the NV center as a single photon source is limited. Additionally, the high diffraction index of bulk diamond restricts the efficiency to collect the fluorescence light.
Color centers in diamond are promising solid-state qubits for scalable quantum photonics applications. Amongst many defects, those with inversion symmetry are of an interest due to their promising optical properties. In this work, we demonstrate a maskless implantation of an array of bright, single germanium vacancy (GeV) centers in diamond. Employing the direct focused ion beam technique, single GeV emitters are engineered with the spatial accuracy of tens of nanometers. The single GeV creation ratio reaches as high as 53% with the dose of 200 Ge + ions per spot. The presented fabrication method is promising for future nanofabrication of integrated photonic structures with GeV emitters as a leading platform for spin-spin interactions.
Negatively charged germanium vacancy centers (GeV) in diamond are a promising platform for quantum computing and quantum communication. However, these applications require the precise incorporation of GeV centers with good optical properties inside of nanophotonic structures. In this work, we demonstrate the highly efficient local creation of GeV centers in diamond via focused-ion-beam implantation, followed by high-temperature annealing. We report the successful creation of GeV centers over the depth range of 5.5 - 30 nm. Implantation at low fluence enables the creation of single GeV centers. The formation yield strongly depends on implantation energy and fluence, reaching up to 33% at energies of 35 and 70 keV. This method, therefore, enables the efficient creation of GeV centers within a small, well-defined local sample volume and offers a potential means of incorporating them into photonic structures.
Diamonds with impurity color centers are a novel class of functional materials with potential for various photonics applications such as quantum optics, metrology, sensorics, and life sciences. When introducing defect centers, a broad range of questions arises about the nature of the photophysical processes in the new materials, in particular regarding the relationship between spectral and morphological properties. Here we present results of comprehensive spectroscopic studies on diamond films with germanium-vacancy (GeV – ) centers, synthesized by chemical vapor deposition from gaseous germane (GeH 4 ). The combination of different techniques (emission and fluorescence excitation spectroscopy, epi-microscopy, and nanoscopy up to the single-emitter level) at room and cryogenic temperatures has shed light onto the spatial distribution of the spectral properties of the GeV – centers in different microregions of the diamond crystal and its relation to local strain/stress. We demonstrate a clear correlation between inhomogeneous broadening and morphological heterogeneities of the sample. Ultranarrow (tens of MHz) stable zero-phonon lines have been observed, which are a prerequisite for various applications.