arXiv · 2510.23862
Giant Isotope Effect on the Excited-State Lifetime and Emission Efficiency of the Silicon T Centre
Abstract
Efficient single-photon emitters are desirable for quantum technologies including quantum networks and photonic quantum computers. We investigate the T centre, a telecommunications-band emitter in silicon, and find a strong isotope dependence of its excited-state lifetime. In particular, the lifetime of the deuterium T centre is over five times longer than the common protium variant. Through explicit first-principles calculations, we demonstrate that this dramatic difference is due to a reduction in the carbon-hydrogen local vibrational mode energy, which suppresses non-radiative decay. Our results imply that the deuterium T centre approaches unit quantum efficiency, enabling more efficient single-photon sources, quantum memories, and entanglement generation.
Explore related subjects
Keep this discovery
Moein Kazemi, Mehdi Keshavarz, Mark E. Turiansky, John L. Lyons, Nikolay V. Abrosimov, Stephanie Simmons, Daniel B. Higginbottom, Mike L. W. Thewalt. 2025-10-27. Giant Isotope Effect on the Excited-State Lifetime and Emission Efficiency of the Silicon T Centre. https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.23862
Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.