Spin relaxation and donor-acceptor recombination of Se+ in 28-silicon

Abstract

Selenium impurities in silicon are deep double donors and their optical and electronic properties have been recently investigated due to their application for infrared detection. However, a singly ionized selenium donor (Se+) possesses an electron spin which makes it a potential candidate as a silicon-based spin qubit, with significant potential advantages compared to the more commonly studied group V donors. Here we study the electron spin relaxation (T1) and coherence (T2) times of Se+ in isotopically purified 28-silicon, and find them to be up to two orders of magnitude longer than shallow group V donors at temperatures above ∼15K. We further study the dynamics of donor-acceptor recombination between selenium and boron, demonstrating that it is possible to control the donor charge state through optical excitation of neutral Se0.