Giant carrier capture cross section by an individual nitrogen vacancy center in diamond: Applications and theory

The recent demonstration of charge transport between individual nitrogen vacancy centers in diamond¹ opens up new opportunities for applications in quantum sensing and quantum information science, as well as for exploring fundamental physics of carrier transport and capture in semiconductors. In this talk, we discuss experimental results demonstrating “giant” hole capture cross section by a single negatively charged nitrogen vacancy center – 3*10^-3 μm². To explain this observation, we propose a theoretical framework that relies on unscreened, long-range Coulomb attraction between the trap and the carrier, which allows the hole to enter bound orbitals thereby forming bound exciton states. Carrier capture based on this process requires ultralow defect concentrations and is efficient at room temperatures. The proposed framework is supported by DFT and Monte Carlo calculations. Building on this, we explore the behavior of capture cross section as a function of temperature and applied electric field. As an immediate practical application, we demonstrate that the giant NV^- capture cross section can be utilized for detection of dark charge emitters in diamond that otherwise remain optically undetectable².