Optically Detected Magnetic Resonance in Neutral Silicon Vacancy Centers in Diamond via Bound Exciton States
Zi-Huai Zhang, Paul Stevenson, Gergő Thiering, Brendon C. Rose, Ding Huang, Andrew M. Edmonds, Matthew Markham, S. A. Lyon, Ádám Gali, Nathalie P. de Leon
Abstract
Neutral silicon vacancy (SiV^{0}) centers in diamond are promising candidates for quantum networks because of their excellent optical properties and long spin coherence times. However, spin-dependent fluorescence in such defects has been elusive due to poor understanding of the excited state fine structure and limited off-resonant spin polarization. Here we report the realization of optically detected magnetic resonance and coherent control of SiV^{0} centers at cryogenic temperatures, enabled by efficient optical spin polarization via previously unreported higher-lying excited states. We assign these states as bound exciton states using group theory and density functional theory. These bound exciton states enable new control schemes for SiV^{0} as well as other emerging defect systems.