Polaron effects on optical properties of Se⁺:Si spin-photon interfaces

Understanding the effects of vibrational modes on solid-state quantum bits proves a major challenge
in developing robust spin-photon interfaces for semiconductor quantum
computing architectures. Donor spins in silicon are known to exhibit remarkably long-coherence
times, making them attractive candidates for qubits, however the semiconductor environment
introduces strong electron-phonon couplings which adversely effect the fidelity of the spin-photon
interface, and therefore our ability to entangle qubits and perform quantum gate computations. In
order to better understand the role of electron-phonon couplings in these systems, we study a
microscopic model that captures the physical mechanisms inherent to these interactions in indirect
bandgap semiconductors like silicon. We report on calculated fluorescence emission spectra that
closely reproduces phonon sideband formation in experimentally observed spectra. We explore the
range of parameters in the model and their effect on the phonon sidebands and discuss their
implications for experimental design.