Electroluminescence of negatively charged single NV centers in diamond

The realization of electroluminescence (EL) of negatively charged nitrogen vacancy (NV−) centers is important toward all-electrical control of diamond quantum devices. In this study, we demonstrated electrical excitation and detection of EL of single NV− centers by using lateral diamond p+–i(n−)–n+ diodes. It had been grown by homoepitaxy using the plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition technique. We introduced a lightly phosphorus doped i(n−) layer to stabilize the negative state of NV centers. It was estimated that the efficiency of the electrical excitation rate of the NV center was more than 30 times enhanced by introducing lateral diamond p+–i(n−)–n+ diodes structure compared with the previous vertical diode. Furthermore, the EL of a single NV− center embedded in the i(n−) layer region was characterized. The results show that the charge state of the single NV centers can be manipulated by the voltage applied to the p+–i(n−)–n+ diode, where the emission of EL is increasingly dominated by NV− in the range of 30 to 50 V.