Spin defects in wide-band gap semiconductors are promising systems for the
realization of quantum bits, or qubits, in solid-state environments. To date,
defect qubits have only been realized in materials with strong covalent bonds.
Here, we introduce a strain-driven scheme to rationally design defect spins in
functional ionic crystals, which may operate as potential qubits. In
particular, using a combination of state-of-the-art ab-initio calculations
based on hybrid density functional and many-body perturbation theory, we
predicted that the negatively charged nitrogen vacancy center in piezoelectric
aluminum nitride exhibits spin-triplet ground states under realistic uni- and
bi-axial strain conditions; such states may be harnessed for the realization of
qubits. The strain-driven strategy adopted here can be readily extended to a
wide range of point defects in other wide-band gap semiconductors, paving the
way to controlling the spin properties of defects in ionic systems for
potential spintronic technologies.Comment: In press. 32 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables, Scientific Reports 201
