Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS March Meeting 2023
Volume 68, Number 3
Las Vegas, Nevada (March 5-10)
Virtual (March 20-22); Time Zone: Pacific Time
Session M39: Solid-state Quantum Defects |
Hide Abstracts |
Sponsoring Units: DMP Chair: Julian Klein, MIT; Christoph Kastl, Technical University of Munich Room: Room 231 |
Wednesday, March 8, 2023 8:00AM - 8:12AM |
M39.00001: Impact of strain and dark states on spectroscopic measurements of silicon-vacancy centers in diamond Christopher L Smallwood, Tommy W Chin, Kelsey M Bates Negatively charged silicon-vacancy (SiV-) centers in diamond are point defects within a diamond host matrix that absorb and emit visible light. These centers retain atom-like quantum coherence properties while simultaneously enjoying the benefits of being permanently fixed inside of a solid. As such, SiV- centers have recently attracted attention as candidate material components in quantum networks and devices. In spite of this interest, many SiV- center properties remain poorly understood. Here we report on a series of computational simulations aimed at developing a better understanding of strain effects within SiV- center ensembles. Simulations were inspired by recent experimental results demonstrating that within a high-density sample of SiV- centers, there exists a large population of centers that are not visible when probed using conventional photoluminescence (PL), and which have different coherence properties from the population of PL-emitting counterparts [1]. Results are expected to be relevant to devices in which an SiV- center environment is intentionally modified. |
Wednesday, March 8, 2023 8:12AM - 8:24AM |
M39.00002: Photon emission correlation spectroscopy as an analytical tool for quantum defects Rebecca Fishman
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Wednesday, March 8, 2023 8:24AM - 8:36AM |
M39.00003: Enhancement of Single Photon Emitters in hexagonal boron nitride multilayered flakes Via Plasmonic Resonance in metallic nanostructures Abdelghani Laraoui, Mohammadjavad Dowran, Suvechhya Lamichhane, Adam D Erickson, Andrew Butler, Sy-Hwang Liou, Christos Argyropoulos Two dimensional (2D) materials such as hexagonal born nitride (hBN) have emerged as promising hosts of single photon sources (SPEs) which exhibits promising optical properties (high brightness, optically accessible spin states, high quantum efficiency, etc.), making them highly desirable elements for integrated quantum photonics [1]. In this study, we create SPEs in thin (thickness ≤ 10 nm) hBN flakes deposited on a Si/SiO2 substrate by using a high-temperature (1100 °C) annealing method under O2 flow and characterize their quantum properties using a home-built confocal fluorescence microscope. We demonstrate plasmonic enhancement of SPE properties by spin-coating of 100 nm Ag nanotubes on top of the hBN flake: a decrease of emission linewidth by 30% and quantum emitter lifetime decrease by 60% [2]. We expect > 2 order of magnitude enhancement of SPE fluorescence when integrating them to optical nanocavities. Such enhancement is supported using COMSOL numerical simulations where hBN flakes are integrated into a composite nanophotonic structure entailing plasmonic effects from silver nanocubes and the optical frequency resonance from the fabricated metallic nanocavity. These results open new doors for future applications of quantum 2D material nanoengineering for quantum sensing and communications. J. D. Caldwell, et al., Nat. Rev. Mat. 4, 552-567 (2019). M. Dowran, et al., under preparation. |
Wednesday, March 8, 2023 8:36AM - 8:48AM |
M39.00004: Quantum Defects and Photoluminescent Centers in Cubic Boron Nitride Mark E Turiansky, Chris G Van de Walle Cubic boron nitride is an ultra-wide-band-gap material with excellent thermal and chemical stability, which is promising for applications in high-power electronics, deep-UV optoelectronics, and as a host for quantum defects. Experimental efforts have uncovered a wealth of photoluminescent centers, but their microscopic origin and aptness for quantum applications has not been assessed. We address these issues with first-principles calculations based on hybrid density functional theory. We comment on the microscopic origin of the PF-1 and T centers, and suggest defects with promising properties for quantum technologies. |
Wednesday, March 8, 2023 8:48AM - 9:00AM |
M39.00005: Spin defects in hexagonal boron nitride for proximity quantum sensing Lingnan Shen, Di Xiao, Ting Cao Defects in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), a 2D Van der Waals (vdW) material, have raised wide range interest for its potential in various quantum applications such as qubits and quantum sensors. Recently, several experiments have shown the ability to optically address spin defect in hBN. Due to the nature of its interlayer vdW interaction, hBN's spin center can be engineered in proximity to target material, posting advantages over their 3D counterparts, such as diamond or silicon carbide. In this talk, we will focus on using first-principle calculation along with model Hamiltonians to discuss properties of hBN defect in stacked heterostructure system for quantum applications. |
Wednesday, March 8, 2023 9:00AM - 9:12AM |
M39.00006: Swelling and the activation of hBN single-photon emitters synthesized by focused ion beam patterning and carbon-rich annealing Rachael A Klaiss, Josh E Ziegler, David J Miller, Kara Zappitelli, Kenji Watanabe, Takashi Taniguchi, Benjamin J Aleman Emerging quantum technologies require controlled fabrication of quantum systems in solid-state materials. Focused ion beam (FIB) has become a versatile tool to create nanostructures and single-photon emitting (SPE) defects in materials. In particular, the ability to pattern arrays of bright and stable room temperature SPEs in two-dimensional hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) via high-energy, heavy-ion FIB allows for direct placement of SPEs. However, the FIB parameters needed to create hBN SPEs are dependent on post-FIB annealing steps. Moreover, morphological damage induced by FIB exposure may further influence the successful creation of SPEs. In this work, we perform atomic force microscopy to characterize the surface morphology of hBN regions patterned by Ga+ FIB to create SPEs at a range of ion doses and find that material swelling is strongly correlated to the onset of non-zero SPE yields. Furthermore, we simulate vacancy and impurity profiles at each of the tested doses and propose a qualitative model to elucidate how Ga+ FIB patterning followed by carbon-rich annealing creates isolated SPEs that is consistent with observed optical and morphological characteristics. Our results provide novel insight into the formation of hBN SPEs created by high-energy, heavy-ion FIB that can be leveraged for monolithic hBN photonic devices and a wide range of low-dimensional solid-state SPE hosts. |
Wednesday, March 8, 2023 9:12AM - 9:24AM |
M39.00007: Ion beam induced infrared color centers in silicon as quantum emitters and sensors of irradiation damage Wei Liu, Qing Ji, Arun Persaud, Kaushalya Jhuria, Vsevolod Ivanov, Jacopo Simoni, Walid Redjem, Yertay Zhiyenbayev, Christos Papapanos, Boubacar Kante, Liang Tan, Javier G Lopez, Thomas Schenkel Infrared color centers in Si have become emerging candidates for on-chip integrated quantum emitters, optical access quantum memories and sensing. Here, we studied the formation dynamics of G color centers in Si with as-received carbon under various ion beam irradiations, and demonstrated using G centers as a sensitive probe for irradiation damage and atomic disorder. For G centers formed by 1 MeV cw proton irradiation, the G center preserves narrow optical linewidth < 0.08 nm, as fluence increased from 109 cm-2 to 1013 cm-2. Meanwhile, under the ns-pulsed irradiation, the linewidth broadens significantly up to 0.13 nm, which indicates the pulsed protons creating a larger degree of atomic disorder. However, the PL decay time of G centers decreases for both irradiations as the proton fluence are increased, implying that the two different irradiations introduce a similar amount of nonradiative defects. The difference in linewidth broadening versus a similar amount of nonradiative defects between the two irradiations indicates that the pulsed proton introduces vacancy clusters causing a stronger degree of atomic disorder. In addition, we observe significantly broader G center linewidth (0.16 nm) from Ar irradiation, with 3 orders of magnitude more damage events, which further suggests the dense damage cascades induced vacancy clusters. |
Wednesday, March 8, 2023 9:24AM - 9:36AM |
M39.00008: Correlation of nanoscale strain distributions with the spectral emission properties from nanoindentation induced quantum emitters in 2D TMD materials. Andrew Jones, Emma McClure, Sean Doan, Han Htoon, Xiangzhi Li The ability to deterministically place solid-state single photon emitters represents a critical capability for scalable quantum computing platforms. 2D systems are one promising material platform for supporting quantum emitters, as localized strain in these systems has been demonstrated to produce single photon emitters. One means of deterministically imposing localized strain is nanoindentation by an atomic force microscopy (AFM) probe into a polymer surface covered by a 2D material. Here, the deformation of the polymer in combination with the adhesion of the 2D layer to the polymer, imparts a localized strain into the surface. While previous studies have shown that indentations in transition metal dichalcogenides (TMD) can create strain centers which act as single photon emission sites, strategies to create reproducible spectral emission properties remains elusive. Currently, little is known about the relationship between localized strain distributions imparted via nanoindentation and the spectral location, linewidth, and lifetime of photoluminescence emission by quantum emitters. We present a survey of nanoindentation parameters into 2D TMDs, specifically WSe2, varying the size, geometry, and indentation force of the AFM probe used for nanoindentation. Modeling the strain imparted into the material, we then correlate nanoscale strain profiles with the photoluminescence properties of the respective single photon emission sources. |
Wednesday, March 8, 2023 9:36AM - 9:48AM |
M39.00009: Selective Generation of V2 Silicon-Vacancy Color Centers in Silicon Carbide Yongzhou Xue, Linran Fan, Zheshen Zhang Silicon-vacancy color centers in the 4H polytype of silicon carbide (4H-SiC) are a promising candidate for photonic quantum information processing with outstanding spin-optical properties. Compared with the V1 type, V2 silicon-vacancy color centers in 4H-SiC can exhibit longer spin coherence time at room temperature and better compatibility with nanophotonic structures. However, silicon-vacancy color centers in 4H-SiC are typically formed in the V1 type with a significantly higher probability than the V2 type. Here, we demonstrate the selective generation of V2 silicon-vacancy color centers in 4H-SiC. This is realized by the mask-less focused ion beam implantation of lithium ions on the m-plane of 4H-SiC. The ratio between the numbers of V2 and V1 silicon-vacancy color centers increases exponentially with decreasing implantation doses. Nearly 70% of implantation locations with color centers only show V2 centers at low doses. Our results represent a critical step towards the scalable implementation of quantum information processing based on SiC photonics and provide further insights into the mechanism of color center formation. |
Wednesday, March 8, 2023 9:48AM - 10:00AM |
M39.00010: Manufacturing integrated quantum systems with direct-bonded diamond membranes Xinghan Guo, Avery Linder, Mouzhe Xie, Anchita Addhya, Zixi Li, Ian N Hammock, Nazar Delegan, Clayton T DeVault, Amy Butcher, David D Awschalom, Peter C Maurer, Joseph F Heremans, Alexander A High Color centers in diamond are a leading platform for quantum sensing and networking technologies with many landmark experimental demonstrations. These advances can be further optimized and scaled to practical quantum systems with a diamond-based hybrid platform. Here, we developed a scalable membrane transfer technique with minimal wafer contamination and unity transfer yield. Furthermore, we demonstrate a direct-bonding method to achieve diamond-on-target-wafer stacks without any intermediate layer. The transferred membranes have nanometer-scale thickness variation over 200x200 μm2 areas and high contrast color centers (measured 40-80 signal-to-background for GeV- centers at 4 K). Moreover, the membranes are compatible with delta-doped near-surface color centers with an upward-facing growth surface after final transfer. We also demonstrate compatibility with quantum photonics, by realizing integrated nanophotonic cavities with an enhanced quality factor, and quantum biosensing, by functionalizing the membranes for bio-molecules and NV colocalization with total internal reflection (TIRF) excitation. |
Wednesday, March 8, 2023 10:00AM - 10:12AM |
M39.00011: Effect of Environmental Screening and Strain on Optoelectronic Properties of 2D Hexagonal Boron Nitride Quantum Defects Shimin Zhang, Kejun LI, Chunhao Guo, Yuan Ping Point defects in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) are promising candidates as single-photon emitters (SPEs) in nanophotonics and quantum information applications. The precise control of SPEs requires in-depth understanding of their optoelectronic properties. However, how the surrounding environment of host materials, including number of layers, substrates, and strain, influences SPEs is not fully understood. In this work, we study the dielectric screening effect due to the number of layers and substrates, and the strain effect on the optical properties of carbon dimer and nitrogen vacancy defects in hBN from first-principles many-body perturbation theory. We report that the screening effect causes a red shift of the GW gap and lowering of the exciton binding energy, leading to nearly constant excitation energy and radiative lifetime. We explain the results with analytical models starting from BSE Hamiltonian in Wannier basis. We show that optical properties of the defects are largely tunable by strain with highly anisotropic response, comparing well with experimental measurements. Our work clarifies the effect of environmental screening and strain on optoelectronic properties of 2D quantum defects, facilitating future applications of SPEs in low-dimensional systems. |
Wednesday, March 8, 2023 10:12AM - 10:24AM |
M39.00012: Decoherence properties of near-surface nitrogen-vacancies in diamond Jonah Nagura, Mykyta Onizhuk, Giulia Galli Optically addressable spin-defects, such as the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond, have emerged as potential quantum sensors with ultra-high sensitivity and sub-nm spatial resolution. The efficient utilization of quantum sensors requires the placement of the spin-defects in close proximity to the diamond surface, so as to strongly couple the defect with sensing targets. However, near-surface NV- centers are known to decohere significantly faster compared to their bulk counterparts indicating that the diamond surface introduces additional sources of noise, not present in the bulk material. To unravel the influence of the diamond surface on the coherence properties of NV centers in diamond, we performed a computational study of the coherence times of these centers as a function of the diamond surface orientation, reconstruction, and functionalization. Specifically, we combined cluster correlation expansion (CCE) and density functional theory calculations to estimate the Hahn-echo spin-coherence time of the NV centres at varying depth (< ca. 10 nm) from the surface. We used the Quantum Espresso and the pyCCE code [1] for DFT and CCE calculations, respectively.
Our results provide a theoretical upper bound of the coherence time for near-surface NV centers for a broad range of surface terminations and surface spin densities, giving important insights for the optimization of materials for diamond-based quantum sensors.
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Wednesday, March 8, 2023 10:24AM - 10:36AM |
M39.00013: First-principles study of impurities on diamond surfaces Mengen Wang, Mark E Turiansky, Chris G Van de Walle Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond are used for quantum sensing applications. For this purpose NV centers need to be close to the diamond surface. Experimentally it is observed that the coherence time decreases as the depth of NV centers decreases. Unpaired electronic spins on the diamond surface can lead to decoherence of the NV centers, but the origin of these unpaired spins is not known. We focus on the hydrogen terminated diamond (100) surface and perform density functional theory calculations to study the electronic properties of impurities on diamond surfaces, including Cl, Si, N, and Na, which are common impurities that can be introduced during growth, processing, or surface treatment. We discuss the origin of localized spins, and the origin of diamond surface states and effects of different surface terminations. |
Wednesday, March 8, 2023 10:36AM - 10:48AM |
M39.00014: Theoretical investigation of near surface spin defects in 3C-SiC Yizhi Zhu, Giulia Galli Spin defects in wide band-gap semiconductors have shown promising properties for quantum sensing and quantum communication applications. For both applications, the spin qubit host material is usually interfaced and integrated with other systems such as cavities, photonic crystals, or biological environments in the case of quantum sensing. It is thus important to investigate spin defects at surfaces and interfaces and not only in the bulk of a given host semiconductor. However, how stability and electronic properties vary as a function of the spin defect proximity to the surface and depending on the surface reconstruction and termination, is mostly unexplored for most materials, although interesting results are already available for the nitrogen vacancy center in diamond [1]. Here, we use first-principles calculations based on DFT and the Quantum Espresso Code to characterize spin defects near the 3C-SiC (001) surface, as a function of the distance from the surface and we report results on the magneto-optical properties of the divacancy. |
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