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Magnetic detection under high pressures using designed silicon vacancy centres in silicon carbide

Nature Materials volume 22, pages 489–494 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Pressure-induced magnetic phase transitions are attracting interest as a means to detect superconducting behaviour at high pressures in diamond anvil cells, but determining the local magnetic properties of samples is a challenge due to the small volumes of sample chambers. Optically detected magnetic resonance of nitrogen vacancy centres in diamond has recently been used for the in situ detection of pressure-induced phase transitions. However, owing to their four orientation axes and temperature-dependent zero-field splitting, interpreting these optically detected magnetic resonance spectra remains challenging. Here we study the optical and spin properties of implanted silicon vacancy defects in 4H-silicon carbide that exhibit single-axis and temperature-independent zero-field splitting. Using this technique, we observe the magnetic phase transition of Nd2Fe14B at about 7 GPa and map the critical temperature–pressure phase diagram of the superconductor YBa2Cu3O6.6. These results highlight the potential of silicon vacancy-based quantum sensors for in situ magnetic detection at high pressures.

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Fig. 1: Schematic of the SiC anvil and the optical properties of VSi defects with changing pressure.
Fig. 2: The spin properties of VSi defects at high pressures.
Fig. 3: The detection of the pressure-induced magnetic phase transition of a Nd2Fe14B magnet using shallow VSi defects.
Fig. 4: Measurement of the temperature‒pressure phase diagram of the superconductor YBa2Cu3O6.6 using implanted VSi defects.

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The data that support the findings of this study are presented in the article and the Supplementary Information, and are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

We thank G.-Q. Liu, E.-K. Liu and T. Wu for helpful discussions. This work was supported by the Innovation Program for Quantum Science and Technology (grant numbers 2021ZD0301400 and 2021ZD0301200), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers U19A2075, 11975221, 11874361, 51672279, 51727806, 11774354, 61905233, 61725504, 11804330 and 11821404), the Science Challenge Project (grant number TZ2016001), the CAS Innovation Grant (grant number CXJJ-19-B08), the CAS HFIPS Director’s Fund (grant numbers YZJJ202102 and 2021YZGH03), the Anhui Initiative in Quantum Information Technologies (grant number AHY060300) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (grant number WK2030380017). X.-D.L. is grateful for support from the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of CAS (grant number 2021446) and the Anhui key research and development programme (grant number 2022h11020007) and J.-F.W. acknowledges financial support from the Science Specialty Program of Sichuan University (grant number 2020SCUNL210). This work was partially carried out at the USTC Center for Micro and Nanoscale Research and Fabrication. We thank Hefei advanced crystal technologies LTD for the sample preparation.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Jun-Feng Wang

    Present address: College of Physics, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

  2. These authors contributed equally: Jun-Feng Wang, Lin Liu, Xiao-Di Liu.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CAS Key Laboratory of Quantum Information, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China

    Jun-Feng Wang, Lin Liu, Qiang Li, Jin-Ming Cui, Ji-Yang Zhou, Wu-Xi Lin, Zhen-Xuan He, Zheng-Hao Liu, Zhi-He Hao, Hai-Ou Li, Jin-Shi Xu, Chuan-Feng Li & Guang-Can Guo

  2. Key Laboratory of Materials Physics, Institute of Solid State Physics, HFIPS, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, China

    Lin Liu, Xiao-Di Liu, Hai-An Xu, Wan Xu, Jin-Wei Yan & Eugene Gregoryanz

  3. CAS Center for Excellence in Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China

    Qiang Li, Jin-Ming Cui, Ji-Yang Zhou, Wu-Xi Lin, Zhen-Xuan He, Zheng-Hao Liu, Zhi-He Hao, Hai-Ou Li, Jin-Shi Xu, Chuan-Feng Li & Guang-Can Guo

  4. Hefei National Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China

    Jin-Ming Cui, Wu-Xi Lin, Hai-Ou Li, Jin-Shi Xu, Chuan-Feng Li & Guang-Can Guo

  5. Physics Department, Shanghai Key Laboratory of High Temperature Superconductors, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China

    Di-Fan Zhou

  6. Center for Micro- and Nanoscale Research and Fabrication, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China

    Yu Wei & Wen Liu

  7. Centre for Science at Extreme Conditions and School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Eugene Gregoryanz

  8. Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research (HPSTAR), Shanghai, China

    Eugene Gregoryanz

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Contributions

J.-F.W., X.-D.L. and J.-S.X. conceived the experiments. J.-F.W. and L.L. built the experimental set-up and performed the measurements with the help of X.-D.L., Q.L., J.-Y.Z., J.-M.C., H.-A.X., W.X., J.-W.Y., W.-X.L., Z.-X.H., Z.-H.L., Z.-H.H. and H.-O.L. L.L., J.-F.W. and X.-D.L. prepared the samples in the SiC-based high-pressure chamber. D.-F.Z. prepared the YBCuO sample. Y.W. and W.L. preformed the implantation of the VSi defects. J.-F.W., J.-S.X., L.L. and X.-D.L. performed the data analysis with contributions from all co-authors. J.-F.W., J.-S.X., X.-D.L. and E.G. wrote the paper with contributions from all co-authors. J.-S.X., X.-D.L., E.G., C.-F.L. and G.-C.G. supervised the project. All authors contributed to the discussion of the results.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Xiao-Di Liu, Jin-Shi Xu, Eugene Gregoryanz or Chuan-Feng Li.

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Nature Materials thanks Norman Yao and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–4, Discussion and References.

Supplementary Data 1

PL images of the VSi defects at different pressures.

Supplementary Data 2

The efficiency-corrected count rates as a function of the pressure.

Supplementary Data 3

Tc of the YBa2Cu3O6.95 and YBa2Cu3O6.6 samples at ambient pressure.

Supplementary Data 4

ODMR spectra at a pressure of 12.3 GPa.

Source data

Source Data Fig. 1

The optical properties of the SiC anvil and VSi defects at different pressures.

Source Data Fig. 2

The spin properties of VSi defects at high pressures.

Source Data Fig. 3

The detection of the pressure-induced magnetic phase transition of a Nd2Fe14B magnet using shallow VSi defects.

Source Data Fig. 4

Measurement of the temperature‒pressure phase diagram of YBa2Cu3O6.6 using implanted VSi defects.

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Wang, JF., Liu, L., Liu, XD. et al. Magnetic detection under high pressures using designed silicon vacancy centres in silicon carbide. Nat. Mater. 22, 489–494 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-023-01477-5

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