Direct Structural Identification and Quantification of the Split-Vacancy Configuration for Implanted Sn in Diamond

We demonstrate formation of the ideal split-vacancy configuration of the Sn-vacancy center upon implantation into natural diamond. Using β^{-} emission channeling following low fluence ^{121}Sn implantation (2×10^{12}  atoms/cm^{2}, 60 keV) at the ISOLDE facility at CERN, we directly identified and quantified the atomic configurations of the Sn-related centers. Our data show that the split-vacancy configuration is formed immediately upon implantation with a surprisingly high efficiency of ≈40%. Upon thermal annealing at 920 °C ≈30% of Sn is found in the ideal bond-center position. Photoluminescence revealed the characteristic SnV^{-} line at 621 nm, with an extraordinarily narrow ensemble linewidth (2.3 nm) of near-perfect Lorentzian shape. These findings further establish the SnV^{-} center as a promising candidate for single photon emission applications, since, in addition to exceptional optical properties, it also shows a remarkably simple structural formation mechanism.