title: Room temperature coherent spin alignment of silicon vacancies in 4H- and 6H-SiC.
abstract: We report the realization of the optically induced inverse population of the ground-state spin sublevels of the silicon vacancies (V(Si)) in silicon carbide (SiC) at room temperature. The data show that the probed silicon vacancy spin ensemble can be prepared in a coherent superposition of the spin states. Rabi nutations persist for more than 80 μs. Two opposite schemes of the optical alignment of the populations between the ground-state spin sublevels of the silicon vacancy upon illumination with unpolarized light are realized in 4H- and 6H-SiC at room temperature. These altogether make the silicon vacancy in SiC a very favorable defect for spintronics, quantum information processing, and magnetometry.
authors.affiliation: Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute, St. Petersburg, 194021 Russia.
authors.forename: Victor A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Soltamov
authors.forename: Alexandra A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Soltamova
authors.forename: Pavel G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Baranov
authors.forename: Ivan I
authors.initials: II
authors.lastname: Proskuryakov