Nitrogen vacancy center in cubic silicon carbide: A promising qubit in the 1.5μm spectral range for photonic quantum networks

We have investigated the optical properties of the ${(\mathrm{NV})}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ center in 3C-SiC to determine the photoluminscence zero phonon line (ZPL) associated with the $^{3}\mathrm{E}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}^{3}\mathrm{A}_{2}$ intracenter transition. Combining electron paramagnetic resonance and photoluminescence spectroscopy, we show that the ${\mathrm{NV}}^{\ensuremath{-}}\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\mathrm{center}$ in 3C-SiC has a ZPL line at 1.468 $\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$ in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions. The ZPL line can be observed up to $T=100$ K. The negatively charged NV center in 3C-SiC is the structural isomorphe of the NV center in diamond and has equally a spin $S=1$ ground state and a spin $S=1$ excited state, long spin lattice relaxation times and presents optically induced groudstate spin polarization. These properties make it already a strong competitor to the NV center in diamond, but as its optical domain is shifted in the near infrared at $1.5\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$, the NV center in 3C-SiC is compatible with quantum photonic networks and silicon based microelectronics.