ABSTRACT We use electrometry of quantum defects embedded within a diamond to observe stable, micron‐scale space charge distributions formed from trapped photogenerated charges. These space charges grow under optical illumination in the presence of an applied electric field, eventually screening the applied electric field entirely over a spatial extent of tens of microns due to charge carrier drift and capture. Our measurements suggest that these space charge fields originate from widely‐dispersed spatial configurations of nitrogen charges. Our results have important consequences for electrometry and photoelectric detection using qubits in wide‐bandgap semiconductors.
Goldblatt et al. (2026) studied this question.