- Physical Review Journals
All JournalsPhysics Magazine

Physical Review Research

Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Open Access

Optical probing of phononic properties of a tin-vacancy color center in diamond

Cem Güney Torun1,*, Joseph H. D. Munns1,*, Franziska Marie Herrmann1, Viviana Villafane2,3, Kai Müller3, Ulrich Kentsch4, Shavkat Akhmadaliev4, Anthony C. Withers5, Andreas Thies6 et al.

Wentao Zhang6, Aleksei Tsarapkin6, Katja Höflich6, Tommaso Pregnolato1,6, Gregor Pieplow1, and Tim Schröder1,6,†

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Contact author: tim.schroeder@physik.hu-berlin.de
PDF

Phys. Rev. Research 8, 023230 – Published 1 June, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/swkr-r6mb

Abstract

The coherence characteristics of a tin-vacancy (SnV) color center in diamond are investigated through optical means, including linewidth broadening effects and coherent population trapping (CPT) between the ground-state orbital levels. Spectral analysis is required as due to the large spin-orbit splitting of the orbital ground states, thermalization between the ground states occurs at rates that are impractical to measure directly in the time domain. First, by implementing a temperature-dependent linewidth broadening measurement, including the challenging-to-measure D transition, phononic coupling coefficients are determined. These measurements are performed on an emitter with a lifetime-limited linewidth and atomlike properties, making the measurement representative for high-quality SnVs. Next, a CPT-type experiment is carried out to independently analyze thermal decoherence processes at 4 K. The spectral information is transformed into its conjugate variable time, providing picosecond resolution and revealing an orbital depolarization timescale of ∼30ps. Consequences of the investigated dynamics are then used to estimate spin dephasing times limited by thermal effects.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (53)

  1. K. Senkalla, G. Genov, M. H. Metsch, P. Siyushev, and F. Jelezko, Germanium vacancy in diamond quantum memory exceeding 20 ms, Phys. Rev. Lett. 132, 026901 (2024).
  2. C. M. Knaut, A. Suleymanzade, Y.-C. Wei, D. R. Assumpcao, P.-J. Stas, Y. Q. Huan, B. Machielse, E. N. Knall, M. Sutula, G. Baranes, N. Sinclair, C. De-Eknamkul, D. S. Levonian, M. K. Bhaskar, H. Park, M. Lončar, and M. D. Lukin, Entanglement of nanophotonic quantum memory nodes in a telecom network, Nature (London) 629, 573 (2024).
  3. U. Wahl, J. G. Correia, R. Villarreal, E. Bourgeois, M. Gulka, M. Nesládek, A. Vantomme, and L. M. C. Pereira, Direct structural identification and quantification of the split-vacancy configuration for implanted Sn in diamond, Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 045301 (2020).
  4. L. Orphal-Kobin, K. Unterguggenberger, T. Pregnolato, N. Kemf, M. Matalla, R.-S. Unger, I. Ostermay, G. Pieplow, and T. Schröder, Optically coherent nitrogen-vacancy defect centers in diamond nanostructures, Phys. Rev. X 13, 011042 (2023).
  5. A. Sipahigil, K. D. Jahnke, L. J. Rogers, T. Teraji, J. Isoya, A. S. Zibrov, F. Jelezko, and M. D. Lukin, Indistinguishable photons from separated silicon-vacancy centers in diamond, Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 113602 (2014).
  6. Y. Narita, P. Wang, K. Ikeda, K. Oba, Y. Miyamoto, T. Taniguchi, S. Onoda, M. Hatano, and T. Iwasaki, Multiple tin-vacancy centers in diamond with nearly identical photon frequency and linewidth, Phys. Rev. Appl. 19, 024061 (2023).
  7. A. E. Rugar, C. Dory, S. Sun, and J. Vučković, Characterization of optical and spin properties of single tin-vacancy centers in diamond nanopillars, Phys. Rev. B 99, 205417 (2019).
  8. C. T. Nguyen, D. D. Sukachev, M. K. Bhaskar, B. Machielse, D. S. Levonian, E. N. Knall, P. Stroganov, C. Chia, M. J. Burek, R. Riedinger, H. Park, M. Lončar, and M. D. Lukin, An integrated nanophotonic quantum register based on silicon-vacancy spins in diamond, Phys. Rev. B 100, 165428 (2019).
  9. J. Arjona Martínez, R. A. Parker, K. C. Chen, C. M. Purser, L. Li, C. P. Michaels, A. M. Stramma, R. Debroux, I. B. Harris, M. Hayhurst Appel, E. C. Nichols, M. E. Trusheim, D. A. Gangloff, D. Englund, and M. Atatüre, Photonic indistinguishability of the tin-vacancy center in nanostructured diamond, Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 173603 (2022).
  10. J. M. Bopp, M. Plock, T. Turan, G. Pieplow, S. Burger, and T. Schröder, ‘Sawfish’ photonic crystal cavity for near-unity emitter-to-fiber interfacing in quantum network applications, Adv. Opt. Mater. 12, 2301286 (2024).
  11. K. D. Jahnke, A. Sipahigil, J. M. Binder, M. W. Doherty, M. Metsch, L. J. Rogers, N. B. Manson, M. D. Lukin, and F. Jelezko, Electron–phonon processes of the silicon-vacancy centre in diamond, New J. Phys. 17, 043011 (2015).
  12. M. E. Trusheim, B. Pingault, N. H. Wan, M. Gündoğan, L. de Santis, R. Debroux, D. Gangloff, C. Purser, K. C. Chen, M. Walsh et al., Transform-limited photons from a coherent tin-vacancy spin in diamond, Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 023602 (2020).
  13. M. H. Abobeih, J. Cramer, M. A. Bakker, N. Kalb, M. Markham, D. J. Twitchen, and T. H. Taminiau, One-second coherence for a single electron spin coupled to a multi-qubit nuclear-spin environment, Nat. Commun. 9, 2552 (2018).
  14. I. Karapatzakis, J. Resch, M. Schrodin, P. Fuchs, M. Kieschnick, J. Heupel, L. Kussi, C. Sürgers, C. Popov, J. Meijer, C. Becher, W. Wernsdorfer, and D. Hunger, Microwave control of the tin-vacancy spin qubit in diamond with a superconducting waveguide, Phys. Rev. X 14, 031036 (2024).
  15. X. Guo, A. M. Stramma, Z. Li, W. G. Roth, B. Huang, Y. Jin, R. A. Parker, J. Arjona Martínez, N. Shofer, C. P. Michaels et al., Microwave-based quantum control and coherence protection of tin-vacancy spin qubits in a strain-tuned diamond-membrane heterostructure, Phys. Rev. X 13, 041037 (2023).
  16. B. Pingault, D.-D. Jarausch, C. Hepp, L. Klintberg, J. N. Becker, M. Markham, C. Becher, and M. Atatüre, Coherent control of the silicon-vacancy spin in diamond, Nat. Commun. 8, 15579 (2017).
  17. P. Siyushev, M. H. Metsch, A. Ijaz, J. M. Binder, M. K. Bhaskar, D. D. Sukachev, A. Sipahigil, R. E. Evans, C. T. Nguyen, M. D. Lukin, P. R. Hemmer, Y. N. Palyanov, I. N. Kupriyanov, Y. M. Borzdov, L. J. Rogers, and F. Jelezko, Optical and microwave control of germanium-vacancy center spins in diamond, Phys. Rev. B 96, 081201 (2017).
  18. E. I. Rosenthal, C. P. Anderson, H. C. Kleidermacher, A. J. Stein, H. Lee, J. Grzesik, G. Scuri, A. E. Rugar, D. Riedel, S. Aghaeimeibodi, G. H. Ahn, K. Van Gasse, and J. Vučković, Microwave spin control of a tin-vacancy qubit in diamond, Phys. Rev. X 13, 031022 (2023).
  19. R. Debroux, C. P. Michaels, C. M. Purser, N. Wan, M. E. Trusheim, J. Arjona Martínez, R. A. Parker, A. M. Stramma, K. C. Chen, L. de Santis, E. M. Alexeev, A. C. Ferrari, D. Englund, D. A. Gangloff, and M. Atatüre, Quantum control of the tin-vacancy spin qubit in diamond, Phys. Rev. X 11, 041041 (2021).
  20. D. D. Sukachev, A. Sipahigil, C. T. Nguyen, M. K. Bhaskar, R. E. Evans, F. Jelezko, and M. D. Lukin, Silicon-vacancy spin qubit in diamond: A quantum memory exceeding 10 ms with single-shot state readout, Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 223602 (2017).
  21. J. N. Becker, B. Pingault, D. Groß, M. Gündoğan, N. Kukharchyk, M. Markham, A. Edmonds, M. Atatüre, P. Bushev, and C. Becher, All-optical control of the silicon-vacancy spin in diamond at millikelvin temperatures, Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 053603 (2018).
  22. J. Görlitz, D. Herrmann, G. Thiering, P. Fuchs, M. Gandil, T. Iwasaki, T. Taniguchi, M. Kieschnick, J. Meijer, M. Hatano, A. Gali, and C. Becher, Spectroscopic investigations of negatively charged tin-vacancy centres in diamond, New J. Phys. 22, 013048 (2020).
  23. E. Neu, D. Steinmetz, J. Riedrich-Möller, S. Gsell, M. Fischer, M. Schreck, and C. Becher, Single photon emission from silicon-vacancy colour centres in chemical vapour deposition nano-diamonds on iridium, New J. Phys. 13, 025012 (2011).
  24. T. Iwasaki, Y. Miyamoto, T. Taniguchi, P. Siyushev, M. H. Metsch, F. Jelezko, and M. Hatano, Tin-vacancy quantum emitters in diamond, Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 253601 (2017).
  25. R. A. Parker, J. Arjona Martínez, K. C. Chen, A. M. Stramma, I. B. Harris, C. P. Michaels, M. E. Trusheim, M. Hayhurst Appel, C. M. Purser, W. G. Roth, D. Englund, and M. Atatüre, A diamond nanophotonic interface with an optically accessible deterministic electronuclear spin register, Nat. Photon. 18, 156 (2024).
  26. G. Clark, H. Raniwala, M. Koppa, K. Chen, A. Leenheer, M. Zimmermann, M. Dong, L. Li, Y. H. Wen, D. Dominguez, M. Trusheim, G. Gilbert, M. Eichenfield, and D. Englund, Nanoelectromechanical control of spin-photon interfaces in a hybrid quantum system on chip, Nano Lett. 24, 1316 (2024).
  27. L. Li, L. de Santis, I. B. W. Harris, K. C. Chen, Y. Gao, I. Christen, H. Choi, M. Trusheim, Y. Song, C. Errando-Herranz, J. Du, Y. Hu, G. Clark, M. I. Ibrahim, G. Gilbert, R. Han, and D. Englund, Heterogeneous integration of spin-photon interfaces with a CMOS platform, Nature (London) 630, 70 (2024).
  28. C. Santori, P. Tamarat, P. Neumann, J. Wrachtrup, D. Fattal, R. G. Beausoleil, J. Rabeau, P. Olivero, A. D. Greentree, S. Prawer, F. Jelezko, and P. Hemmer, Coherent population trapping of single spins in diamond under optical excitation, Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 247401 (2006).
  29. B. Pingault, J. N. Becker, C. H. H. Schulte, C. Arend, C. Hepp, T. Godde, A. I. Tartakovskii, M. Markham, C. Becher, and M. Atatüre, All-optical formation of coherent dark states of silicon-vacancy spins in diamond, Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 263601 (2014).
  30. L. J. Rogers, K. D. Jahnke, M. H. Metsch, A. Sipahigil, J. M. Binder, T. Teraji, H. Sumiya, J. Isoya, M. D. Lukin, P. Hemmer, and F. Jelezko, All-optical initialization, readout, and coherent preparation of single silicon-vacancy spins in diamond, Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 263602 (2014).
  31. J. Görlitz, D. Herrmann, P. Fuchs, T. Iwasaki, T. Taniguchi, D. Rogalla, D. Hardeman, P.-O. Colard, M. Markham, M. Hatano, and C. Becher, Coherence of a charge stabilised tin-vacancy spin in diamond, npj Quantum Inf. 8, 45 (2022).
  32. S. Wu, X. Li, I. Gallagher, B. Lawrie, and H. Wang, Coherent population trapping and spin relaxation of a silicon vacancy center in diamond at millikelvin temperatures, Phys. Rev. B 111, 035421 (2025).
  33. G. Pieplow, C. G. Torun, C. Gurr, J. H. D. Munns, F. M. Herrmann, A. Thies, T. Pregnolato, and T. Schröder, Quantum electrometer for time-resolved material science at the atomic lattice scale, Nat. Commun. 16, 6435 (2025).
  34. Z. Li, X. Guo, Y. Jin, F. Andreoli, A. Bilgin, D. D. Awschalom, N. Delegan, F. J. Heremans, D. Chang, G. Galli, and A. A. High, Atomic optical antennas in solids, Nat. Photon. 18, 1113 (2024).
  35. G. Thiering and A. Gali, Ab initio magneto-optical spectrum of Group-IV vacancy color centers in diamond, Phys. Rev. X 8, 021063 (2018).
  36. M. Jamali, I. Gerhardt, M. Rezai, K. Frenner, H. Fedder, and J. Wrachtrup, Microscopic diamond solid-immersion-lenses fabricated around single defect centers by focused ion beam milling, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 85, 123703 (2014).
  37. T. M. Babinec, B. J. M. Hausmann, M. Khan, Y. Zhang, J. R. Maze, P. R. Hemmer, and M. Loncar, A diamond nanowire single-photon source, Nat. Nanotechnol. 5, 195 (2010).
  38. P. Wang, L. Kazak, K. Senkalla, P. Siyushev, R. Abe, T. Taniguchi, S. Onoda, H. Kato, T. Makino, M. Hatano, F. Jelezko, and T. Iwasaki, Transform-limited photon emission from a lead-vacancy center in diamond above 10 K, Phys. Rev. Lett. 132, 073601 (2024).
  39. M. Alkahtani, I. Cojocaru, X. Liu, T. Herzig, J. Meijer, J. Küpper, T. Lühmann, A. V. Akimov, and P. R. Hemmer, Tin-vacancy in diamonds for luminescent thermometry, Appl. Phys. Lett. 112, 241902 (2018).
  40. J. N. Becker, J. Görlitz, C. Arend, M. Markham, and C. Becher, Ultrafast all-optical coherent control of single silicon vacancy colour centres in diamond, Nat. Commun. 7, 13512 (2016).
  41. C. G. Torun, J. H. D. Munns, F. M. Herrmann, V. Villafane, K. Müller, U. Kentsch, S. Akhmadaliev, C. A. Withers, W. Zhang, A. Tsarapkin, K. Höflich, A. Thies, T. Pregnolato, G. Pieplow, and T. Schröder, Optical probing of phononic properties of a tin-vacancy color center in diamond, Zenodo (2026), https://zenodo.org/records/19565448.
  42. J. Heupel, M. Pallmann, J. Körber, D. Hunger, J. P. Reithmaier, and C. Popov, Fabrication of high-quality thin single-crystal diamond membranes with low surface roughness, Phys. Status Solidi A 220, 2200465 (2023).
  43. J. F. Ziegler, M. D. Ziegler, and J. P. Biersack, SRIM—The stopping and range of ions in matter, Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. Sect. B 268, 1818 (2010).
  44. A. Tsarapkin, S. Facsko, W. Zhang, A. Mogilatenko, K. Unterguggenberger, B. Li, C. G. Torun, G. Hobler, T. Pregnolato, T. Schröder, and K. Höflich, Clean up behind you—Novel patterning approach for solid immersion lenses, Adv. Funct. Mater. e31985 (2026).
  45. K. J. Brown, E. Chartier, E. M. Sweet, D. A. Hopper, and L. C. Bassett, Cleaning diamond surfaces using boiling acid treatment in a standard laboratory chemical hood, J. Chem. Health Saf. 26, 40 (2019).
  46. H. A. Atikian, A. Eftekharian, A. Jafari Salim, M. J. Burek, J. T. Choy, A. Hamed Majedi, and M. Lončar, Superconducting nanowire single photon detector on diamond, Appl. Phys. Lett. 104, 122602 (2014).
  47. J. M. Binder, A. Stark, N. Tomek, J. Scheuer, F. Frank, K. D. Jahnke, C. Müller, S. Schmitt, M. H. Metsch, T. Unden, T. Gehring, A. Huck, U. L. Andersen, L. J. Rogers, and F. Jelezko, Qudi: A modular Python suite for experiment control and data processing, SoftwareX 6, 85 (2017).
  48. H. J. McSkimin and P. Andreatch, Elastic moduli of diamond as a function of pressure and temperature, J. Appl. Phys. 43, 2944 (1972).
  49. P. Jacobson and S. Stoupin, Thermal expansion coefficient of diamond in a wide temperature range, Diam. Relat. Mater. 97, 107469 (2019).
  50. S. C. Kitson, P. Jonsson, J. G. Rarity, and P. R. Tapster, Intensity fluctuation spectroscopy of small numbers of dye molecules in a microcavity, Phys. Rev. A 58, 620 (1998).
  51. D. Manzano, A short introduction to the Lindblad master equation, AIP Adv. 10, 025106 (2020).
  52. L. De Santis, M. E. Trusheim, K. C. Chen, and D. R. Englund, Investigation of the Stark effect on a centrosymmetric quantum emitter in diamond, Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 147402 (2021).
  53. S. Aghaeimeibodi, D. Riedel, A. E. Rugar, C. Dory, and J. Vučković, Electrical tuning of tin-vacancy centers in diamond, Phys. Rev. Appl. 15, 064010 (2021).

Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. Research 8, 023230– Published 1 June, 2026
  • Received 26 February 2024
  • Revised 4 October 2025
  • Accepted 2 April 2026
Crossmark - Check for updates button
Creative Commons Logo

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation