First-principle study of spin-strain coupling in defect spin qubits*

Spin defects in semiconductors are promising platforms for quantum information processing and are useful components of hybrid quantum devices. Transition energies between different defect states are sensitive to external perturbations and hence lattice strains can be utilized for mechanical control of qubits. In this work, we use density functional theory to predict the coupling strength between spin and mechanical degrees of freedom for prototypical defect spin qubits including the nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond and divacancies in silicon carbide, and we compare our results with recent experiments [1].

[1] Whiteley, S. J., Wolfowicz, G., Anderson, C. P., Bourassa, A., Ma, H., Ye, M., Koolstra, G., Satzinger, K. J., Holt, M. V., Heremans, F. J., Cleland, A. N., Schuster, D. I., Galli, G., Awschalom D. D. (2018) arXiv:1804.10996.