Associate Professor Takayuki Iwasaki receive FY2019 MEXT Commendation

When impurity atoms are incorporated in wide-gap semiconductors and are located next to vacancies (empty spaces with no atoms), complex defects are formed that emit light. Diamonds are wide-gap semiconductors with a large band gap where various complex defects can form. Complex defects that emit single photons function as quantum emitters, and in the future, it is expected that light sources with excellent optical properties and spin properties will be applied to quantum networks. However, until now, no quantum emitters has been discovered with both excellent optical properties and spin properties. In this research, new quantum emitters were created by focusing on germanium and tin, which are elements that have not yet been introduced into diamonds. In particular, tin-vacancy centers consisting of tin and vacancies exhibit high emission intensity, and stable emission and a long spin coherence time in the Kelvin temperature range can be expected, which could potentially resolve problems with conventional quantum emitters.

The achievements of this research were obtained through the collaboration of many researchers in Japan and overseas. I would like to take this opportunity to show my heartfelt appreciation. I will continue to make effort to develop this research.