Laser Writing of Scalable Single Color Centers in Silicon Carbide

Single photon emitters in silicon carbide (SiC) are attracting attention as quantum photonic systems (Awschalom et al. Nat. Photonics 2018, 12, 516-527; Atatiire et al. Nat. Rev. Mater. 2018, 3, 38-51). However, to achieve scalable devices, it is essential to generate single photon emitters at desired locations on demand. Here we report the controlled creation of single silicon vacancy (V-Si) centers in 4H-SiC using laser writing without any postannealing process. Due to the aberration correction in the writing apparatus and the nonannealing process, we generate single V-Si centers with yields up to 30%, located within about 80 nm of the desired position in the transverse plane. We also investigated the photophysics of the laser writing V-Si centers and concluded that there are about 16 photons involved in the laser writing V-Si center process. Our results represent a powerful tool in the fabrication of single V-Si centers in SiC for quantum technologies and provide further insights into laser writing defects in dielectric materials.