Isotopically varying spectral features of silicon vacancy in diamond

The silicon-vacancy centre (SiV) in diamond has interesting vibronic features. We demonstrate that the zero phonon line position can be used to reliably identify the silicon isotope present in a single centre. This is of interest for quantum information applications since only the silicon 29 isotope has nuclear spin. In addition, we demonstrate that the 64 meV line is due to a local vibrational mode of the silicon atom. The presence of a local mode suggests a plausible origin of the isotopic shift of the zero phonon line.