Coherent control of single spins in silicon carbide at room temperature

Spins in solids are cornerstone elements of quantum spintronics1. Leading contenders such as defects in diamond2–5, or individual phosphorous dopants in silicon6 have shown spectacular progress but either miss established nanotechnology or an efficient spin-photon interface. Silicon carbide (SiC) combines the strength of both systems5: It has a large bandgap with deep defects7–9 and benefits from mature fabrication techniques10–12. Here we report the characterization of photoluminescence and optical spin polarization from single silicon vacancies in SiC, and demonstrate that single spins can be addressed at room temperature. We show coherent control of a single defect spin and find long spin coherence time under ambient conditions. Our study provides evidence that SiC is a promising system for atomic- scale spintronics and quantum technology

Structural Attributes and Photodynamics of Visible Spectrum Quantum Emitters in Hexagonal Boron Nitride

Newly discovered van der Waals materials like MoS2, WSe2, hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), and recently C2N have sparked intensive research to unveil the quantum behavior associated with their 2D structure. Of great interest are 2D materials that host single quantum emitters. h-BN, with a band gap of 5.95 eV, has been shown to host single quantum emitters which are stable at room temperature in the UV and visible spectral range. In this paper we investigate correlations between h-BN structural features and emitter location from bulk down to the monolayer at room temperature. We demonstrate that chemical etching and ion irradiation can generate emitters in h-BN. We analyze the emitters' spectral features and show that they are dominated by the interaction of their electronic transition with a single Raman active mode of h-BN. Photodynamics analysis reveals diverse rates between the electronic states of the emitter. The emitters show excellent photo stability even under ambient conditions and in monolayers. Comparing the excitation polarization between different emitters unveils a connection between defect orientation and the h-BN hexagonal structure. The sharp spectral features, color diversity, room-temperature stability, long-lived metastable states, ease of fabrication, proximity of the emitters to the environment, outstanding chemical stability, and biocompatibility of h-BN provide a completely new class of systems that can be used for sensing and quantum photonics applications

Single-Shot Electron Imaging of Dopant-Induced Nanoplasmas

We present single-shot electron velocity-map images of nanoplasmas generated from doped helium nanodroplets and neon clusters by intense near-infrared and mid-infrared laser pulses. We report a large variety of signal types, most crucially depending on the cluster size. The common feature is a two-component distribution for each single-cluster event: a bright inner part with nearly circular shape corresponding to electron energies up to a few eV, surrounded by an extended background of more energetic electrons. The total counts and energy of the electrons in the inner part are strongly correlated and follow a simple power-law dependence. Deviations from the circular shape of the inner electrons observed for neon clusters and large helium nanodroplets indicate non-spherical shapes of the neutral clusters. The dependence of the measured electron energies on the extraction voltage of the spectrometer indicates that the evolution of the nanoplasma is significantly affected by the presence of an external electric field. This conjecture is confirmed by molecular dynamics simulations, which reproduce the salient features of the experimental electron spectra.The authors are grateful for financial support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) within the project MU 2347/12-1 and STI 125/22-2 in the frame of the Priority Programme 1840 ‘Quantum Dynamics in Tailored Intense Fields’, from the Carlsberg Foundation and the SPARC Programme, MHRD, India. The ELI-ALPS Project (GINOP-2.3.6-15-2015-00001) is supported by the European Union and co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund. AH is grateful for financial support from the Basque Government (Project Reference No. IT1254-19) and from the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competividad (Reference No. CTQ2015-67660-P). Computational and manpower support provided by IZO-SGI SG Iker of UPV/EHU and European funding (EDRF and ESF) is gratefully acknowledged

Coordinatively Saturated Tris(oxazolinyl)borato Zinc Hydride-Catalyzed Cross Dehydrocoupling of Silanes and Alcohols

The four-coordinate zinc compound ToMZnH (1, ToM = tris(4,4-dimethyl-2-oxazolinyl)phenylborate) catalyzes selective alcoholysis of substituted hydrosilanes. The catalytic reaction of PhMeSiH2 and aliphatic alcohols favors the monodehydrocoupled product PhMeHSi–OR. With the aryl alcohol 3,5-C6H3Me2OH, the selectivity for mono(aryloxy)hydrosilane PhMeHSiOC6H3Me2 and bis(aryloxy)silane PhMeSi(OC6H3Me2)2 is controlled by relative reagent concentrations. Reactions of secondary organosilanes and diols provide cyclic bis(oxo)silacycloalkanes in high yield. The empirical rate law for the ToMZnH-catalyzed reaction of 3,5-dimethylphenol and PhMeSiH2 is −d[PhMeSiH2]/dt = k′obs[ToMZnH]1[3,5-C6H3Me2OH]0[PhMeSiH2]1 (determined at 96 °C) which indicates that Si–O bond formation is turnover-limiting in the presence of excess phenol

High catalytic activity of oriented 2.0.0 copper(I) oxide grown on graphene film

[EN] Metal oxide nanoparticles supported on graphene exhibit high catalytic activity for oxidation, reduction and coupling reactions. Here we show that pyrolysis at 900 C under inert atmosphere of copper(II) nitrate embedded in chitosan films affords 1.1.1 facet-oriented copper nanoplatelets supported on few-layered graphene. Oriented (1.1.1) copper nanoplatelets on graphene undergo spontaneous oxidation to render oriented (2.0.0) copper(I) oxide nanoplatelets on few-layered graphene. These films containing oriented copper(I) oxide exhibit as catalyst turnover numbers that can be three orders of magnitude higher for the Ullmann-type coupling, dehydrogenative coupling of dimethylphenylsilane with n-butanol and C–N cross-coupling than those of analogous unoriented graphene-supported copper(I) oxide nanoplatelets.Financial support by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Severo Ochoa and CTQ2012-32315) and Generalitat Valenciana (Prometeo 2013-019) is gratefully acknowledged. Partial financial support from European Union (Being Energy project) is also acknowledged. J.F.B. and I. E.-A. thank the Technical University of Valencia and the Spanish Ministry of Science for PhD scholarships, respectively. The authors are grateful to Mrs. Amparo Forneli for her assistance in the sample preparation and to Dr. Agouram Said from SCSIE, University of Valencia for the sample preparation and HRTEM characterization of samples. AD thanks University Grants Commission, New Delhi, for the award of Assistant Professorship under its Faculty Recharge Programme. AD also thanks Department of Science and Technology, India, for the financial support through Fast Track project (SB/FT/CS-166/2013) and the Generalidad Valenciana for financial aid supporting his stay at Valencia through the Prometeo programme. VP thanks UEFISCDI for financial support through PN-II-ID-PCE-2011-3-0060 project (275/2011).Primo Arnau, AM.; Esteve Adell, I.; Blandez Barradas, JF.; Amarajothi, D.; Alvaro Rodríguez, MM.; Candu, N.; Coman, SM.... (2015). High catalytic activity of oriented 2.0.0 copper(I) oxide grown on graphene film. Nature Communications. 6. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9561S85616Huang, J. et al. Nanocomposites of size-controlled gold nanoparticles and graphene oxide: formation and applications in SERS and catalysis. Nanoscale 2, 2733–2738 (2010).Li, X., Wang, X., Song, S., Liu, D. & Zhang, H. 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Electrode Design for Wire Interconnected Back Contact Solar Cells

Back contact back junction (BC-BJ) solar cells are a well-studied cell concept for high efficiency silicon solar cells. Wire interconnection is a known approach for the interconnection of solar cells with electrodes on front and rear side but has only recently been investigated in combination with back contact concepts [1]. Here, an optimal electrode design has quite different requirements. This study determines the smallest possible electrode geometry for linear electrodes on BC-BJ solar cells by conducting peel tests on geometry variations. Moreover, it is shown that the reliability of the wire interconnection is improved by implementing an optimized H-shaped pad geometry. Consequently, the H-shape is applied on BC-BJ half-cells and evaluated based on peel force measurements, as well as electroluminescence images of wire interconnected half-cells. A significant increase of peel force from below 0.1 N for linear pads to above 0.3 N for H-shaped pads, as well as a significant decrease of failure rate from 12.5 % for linear pads down to 4.5 % are demonstrated