Strong Zero-Phonon Transition from Point Defect-Stacking Fault Complexes in Silicon Carbide Nanowires

Abstract

Crystallographic defects such as vacancies and stacking faults engineer electronic band structure at the atomic level and create zero- and two-dimensional quantum structures in crystals. The combination of these point and planar defects can generate a new type of defect complex system. Here, we investigate silicon carbide nanowires that host point defects near stacking faults. These point–planar defect complexes in the nanowire exhibit outstanding optical properties of high-brightness single photons (>360 kcounts/s), a fast recombination time (<1 ns), and a high Debye–Waller factor (>50%). These distinct optical properties of coupled point-planar defects lead to an unusually strong zero-phonon transition, essential for achieving highly efficient quantum interactions between multiple qubits. Our findings can be extended to other defects in various materials and therefore offer a new perspective for engineering defect qubits.