Laser-induced creation of coherent V2 centers in bulk-grown silicon carbide

Quantum Physics [Submitted on 24 Mar 2026] Laser-induced creation of coherent V2 centers in bulk-grown silicon carbide L.J. Feije, G.M. Timmer, Y. Hu, R. Karababa, G.L. van de Stolpe, T. Martens, S.J.H. Loenen, T. Durant, A. Das, T.H. Taminiau Solid-state spin defects are promising qubits for quantum network nodes. A key challenge towards larger networks is creating defects with high yield into nanophotonic devices, while maintaining good optical and spin properties. Here, we demonstrate the creation of V2 centers in nanopillars fabricated from commercial bulk-grown 4H-silicon carbide using a pulsed above-bandgap (UV) laser. We observe an eleven-fold increase in the V2 center occurrence after UV laser illumination. These laser-induced V2 centers exhibit narrow optical linewidths and spectral diffusion rates comparable to naturally occurring V2 centers in nanopillars of the same material. Furthermore, we measure a spin coherence time of T_{2}^{\mathrm{DD}} = 3.6 \pm 0.3~\text{ms} under dynamical decoupling, consistent with dephasing by the nuclear-spin bath. This demonstration of the in-situ, post-fabrication generation of coherent V2 centers in nanostructures in widely available bulk-grown 4H-SiC, shows the potential for above-bandgap laser illumination for scalable defect creation in integrated photonic devices. Comments: Authors L.J. Feije and G.M. Timmer contributed equally, 31 pages, 28 figures Subjects: Quantum Physics (quant-ph) Cite as: arXiv:2603.23603 [quant-ph]   (or arXiv:2603.23603v1 [quant-ph] for this version)   https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2603.23603 Focus to learn more Submission history From: Laurens Feije [view email] [v1] Tue, 24 Mar 2026 18:00:04 UTC (30,562 KB) Access Paper: HTML (experimental) view license Current browse context: quant-ph < prev   |   next > new | recent | 2026-03 References & Citations INSPIRE HEP NASA ADS Google Scholar Semantic Scholar Export BibTeX Citation Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data, Media Demos Related Papers About arXivLabs Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax (What is MathJax?)