Spin Echo From Erbium Implanted Silicon

Erbium implanted silicon as a quantum technology platform has both telecommunications and integrated circuit processing compatibility. In Si implanted with Er to a concentration of 3x10(17) cm(-3) and O to a concentration of 10(20) cm(-3), the electron spin coherence time, T-2, and the spin-lattice relaxation time, T-1, were measured to be 7.5 mu s and similar to 1 ms, respectively, at 5 K. The spin echo decay profile displayed strong modulation, which was consistent with the super-hyperfine interaction between Er3+ and a spin bath of Si-29 nuclei. The calculated spectral diffusion time was similar to the measured T-2, which indicated that T-2 was limited by spectral diffusion due to T-1-induced flips of neighboring Er3+ spins. The origin of the echo is an Er center surrounded by six O atoms with monoclinic C-1h site symmetry. Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing.