Abstract
Photoluminescence (PL) spectra of single silicon vacancy (SiV) centers in diamond frequently feature very narrow room temperature PL lines in the near-infrared (NIR) spectral region, mostly between 820 nm and 840 nm, in addition to the well known zero-phonon line (ZPL) at approximately 738 nm [E. Neu et al., Phys. Rev. B 84, 205211 (2011)]. We here exemplarily prove for a single SiV center that this NIR PL is due to an additional purely electronic transition (ZPL). For the NIR line at 822.7 nm, we find a room temperature linewidth of 1.4 nm (2.6 meV). The line saturates at similar excitation power as the ZPL. The ZPL and NIR line exhibit identical polarization properties. Cross-correlation measurements between the ZPL and the NIR line reveal anticorrelated emission and prove that the lines originate from a single SiV center, furthermore indicating a fast switching between the transitions (0.7 ns). autocorrelation measurements exclude that the NIR line is a vibronic sideband or that it arises due to a transition from/to a metastable (shelving) state.
- Received 19 April 2012
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.85.245207
©2012 American Physical Society