Jahnke, Kay DSipahigil, AlpBinder, Jan MDoherty, MarcusMetsch, MathiasRogers, LachlanManson, NeilLukin, Mikhail DJelezko, Fedor2018-11-292018-11-291367-2630http://hdl.handle.net/1885/152970We investigate phonon induced electronic dynamics in the ground and excited states of the negatively charged silicon-vacancy (SiV-) centre in diamond. Optical transition linewidths, transition wavelength and excited state lifetimes are measured for the temperature range 4 K-350 K. The ground state orbital relaxation rates are measured using time-resolved fluorescence techniques. Amicroscopic model of the thermal broadening in the excited and ground states of the SiV- centre is developed. A vibronic process involving single-phonon transitions is found to determine orbital relaxation rates for both the ground and the excited states at cryogenic temperatures.Wediscuss the implications of our findings for coherence of qubits in the ground states and propose methods to extend coherence times of SiV- qubits.application/pdfKeywords: Diamonds; Ground state; Optical transitions; Phonons; Quantum computers; Relaxation time; Silicon; Temperature; Colour centers; Electronic dynamics; Excited state lifetimes; Silicon vacancies; Thermal broadening; Time-resolved fluorescence; Transition lin colour center; diamond; optical transitions; phonon; relaxation time; silicon vacancy; temperature201510.1088/1367-2630/17/4/0430112018-11-29