Abstract
Color centers in silicon carbide are relevant for applications in quantum technologies as they can produce single photon sources or can be used as spin qubits and in quantum sensing applications. Here, we have applied femtosecond laser writing in silicon carbide and gallium nitride to generate vacancy-related color centers, giving rise to photoluminescence from the visible to the infrared. Using a 515 nm wavelength 230 fs pulsed laser, we produce large arrays of silicon vacancy defects in silicon carbide with a high localization within the confocal diffraction limit of 500 nm and with minimal material damage. The number of color centers formed exhibited power-law scaling with the laser fabrication energy indicating that the color centers are created by photoinduced ionization. This work highlights the simplicity and flexibility of laser fabrication of color center arrays in relevant materials for quantum applications.
Highlights
Femtosecond lasers are well-developed tools for ablation and micro-/nanofabrication and have been used for 3D direct patterning and micromachining of transparent optical materials [1]
We focus on the fabrication and PL characterization of color centers formed by fs-laser writing via confocal imaging and spectroscopy in high-purity semiinsulating (HPSI), intrinsic unintentionally doped and n-doped silicon carbide (SiC), and unintentionally doped gallium nitride (GaN) films
From low temperature PL characterization, we confirm the formation of silicon vacancies through the identification of the V10 line in high purity semi-insulating SiC and we show the formation of a 665 nm emission, which is not assigned
Summary
Femtosecond (fs) lasers are well-developed tools for ablation and micro-/nanofabrication and have been used for 3D direct patterning and micromachining of transparent optical materials [1]. It is possible to form nanoscale bumps on glass surface by controlled re-melting with nJ-energy pulses [2], to write 3D pattern of submicrometer-sized modifications inside silica for 3D optical memory, which can withstand temperatures of ~1000 ◦ C [3], and to induce crystalline to amorphous phase transitions within subwavelength volumes as demonstrated with sapphire [4,5]. Even higher nanoscale precision was demonstrated in nanoscale ablation of ripples [6], which can be used for direct writing of nanogrooves of tens-of-nm for lithography applications [7] and could be used for patterning complex 3D surfaces. Fs-laser inscription of nanoscale structures is a ready technique for large area applications
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