Stark Tuning of the Silicon Vacancy in Silicon Carbide

Abstract

We present a versatile scheme dedicated to exerting strong electric fields up to 0.5 MV/cm on color centers in hexagonal silicon carbide, employing transparent epitaxial graphene electrodes. In both the axial and basal direction equally strong electric fields can be selectively controlled. Investigating the silicon vacancy (VSi) in ensemble photoluminescence experiments, we report Stark splitting of the V1′ line of 3 meV by a basal electrical field and a Stark shift of the V1 line of 1 meV in an axial electric field. The spectral fine-tuning of the VSi, being an important candidate for realizing quantum networks, paves the way for truly indistinguishable single-photon sources.