We experimentally demonstrate the inductive readout of optically hyperpolarized phosphorus-31 donor nuclear spins in an isotopically enriched silicon-28 crystal. The concentration of phosphorus donors in the crystal was 1.5 x 10$^{ 15}$ cm$^{ -3}$, three orders of magnitude lower than has previously been detected via direct inductive detection. The signal-to-noise ratio measured in a single free induction decay from a 1 cm$^3$ sample ($\approx 10^{ 15}$ spins) was 113. By transferring the sample to an X-band ESR spectrometer, we were able to obtain a lower bound for the nuclear spin polarization at 1.7 K of 64 %. The $^{ 31}$P-T$_{ 2}$ measured with a Hahn echo sequence was 420 ms at 1.7 K, which was extended to 1.2 s with a Carr Purcell cycle. The T$_1$ of the $^{ 31}$P nuclear spins at 1.7 K is extremely long and could not be determined, as no decay was observed even on a timescale of 4.5 hours. Optical excitation was performed with a 1047 nm laser, which provided above bandgap excitation of the silicon. The build-up of the hyperpolarization at 4.2 K followed a single exponential with a characteristic time of 577 s, while the build-up at 1.7 K showed bi-exponential behavior with characteristic time constants of 578 s and 5670 s.
Categories: cond-mat.mtrl-sci quant-ph