Electrically and mechanically tunable electron spins in silicon carbide color centers

Abstract

The electron spins of semiconductor defects can have complex interactions with their host, particularly in polar materials like SiC where electrical and mechanical variables are intertwined. By combining pulsed spin resonance with ab initio simulations, we show that spin-spin interactions in 4H-SiC neutral divacancies give rise to spin states with a strong Stark effect, sub-10(-6) strain sensitivity, and highly spin-dependent photoluminescence with intensity contrasts of 15%-36%. These results establish SiC color centers as compelling systems for sensing nanoscale electric and strain fields.