As noted, the SiV center in diamond has demonstrated excellent couplings to both optical (photonic) and mechanical (phononic) degrees of freedom, which has made it a compelling candidate as a node in future quantum networks. One key approach towards enhancing these interaction rates is to embed the defect center within a wavelength-scale cavity structure, which concentrates the optical and mechanical energy around the defect center. Already a robust quantum platform, optomechanical crystals (OMCs) satisfy these requirements by simultaneously hosting confined optical and mechancial modes. In addition, nonlinear crystal effects in the OMC allow one to couple these modes together, which enables the optical excitation and readout of mechanical modes.

Most OMC platforms in use today utilize optical resonances within the telecommunication frequency band (\(\lambda \sim 1550 \ nm\)), but in our case, we have designed, fabricated, and measured an optomechanical crystal with an optical mode resonant with the SiV excitation frequency (\(\lambda \sim 737\ nm)\), which allows for the simultaneous Purcell enhancement of the SiV center emission. With the development of this spin-optomechanical platform, we envision the development of a quantum network node that can be initialized, controlled, and readout all-optically, paving the way towards larger scale quantum networks.