Spectroscopic investigations of negatively charged tin-vacancy centres in diamond The recently discovered negatively charged tin-vacancy centre in diamond is a promising candidate for applications in quantum information processing (QIP). We here present a detailed spectroscopic study encompassing single photon emission and polarisation properties, the temperature dependence of emission spectra as well as a detailed analysis of the phonon sideband and Debye–Waller factor. Using photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy we probe an energetically higher lying excited state and prove fully lifetime limited linewidths of single emitters at cryogenic temperatures. For these emitters we also investigate the stability of the charge state under resonant excitation. These results provide a detailed insight into the spectroscopic properties of the SnV− centre and lay the foundation for further studies regarding its suitability in QIP.

This work was supported by the Joint Research Project SIQUST (17FUN06). This project received funding from the European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research (EMPIR) cofinanced by the Participating States and from the European Unions Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.