Fast optoelectronic charge state conversion of silicon vacancies in diamond | Science Advances

Group IV vacancy color centers in diamond are promising spin-photon interfaces with strong potential for applications in photonic quantum technologies. Reliable methods for controlling and stabilizing their charge state are urgently needed for scaling to multiqubit devices. Here, we manipulate the charge state of silicon vacancy (SiV) ensembles by combining luminescence and photocurrent spectroscopy. We controllably convert the charge state between the optically active SiV ⁻ and dark SiV ²⁻ with megahertz rates and >90% contrast by judiciously choosing the local potential applied to in-plane surface electrodes and the laser excitation wavelength. We observe intense SiV ⁻ photoluminescence under hole capture, measure the intrinsic conversion time from the dark SiV ²⁻ to the bright SiV ⁻ to be 36.4(67) ms, and demonstrate how it can be enhanced by a factor of 10 ⁵ via optical pumping. Moreover, we obtain previously unknown information on the defects that contribute to photoconductivity, indicating the presence of substitutional nitrogen and divacancies.