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arXiv:0705.2006 · Physical Review B

Polarization-selective excitation of nitrogen vacancy centers in diamond

Thiago P. Mayer Alegre, Charles Santori, Gilberto Medeiros‐Ribeiro, Raymond G. Beausoleil

Published Oct 12, 2007• 174 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The nitrogen vacancy (NV) center in diamond is promising as an electron spin qubit due to its long-lived coherence and optical addressability. The ground state is a spin triplet with two levels $({m}_{s}=\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1)$ degenerate at zero magnetic field. Polarization-selective microwave excitation is an attractive method to address the spin transitions independently since this allows operation down to zero magnetic field. Using a resonator designed to produce circularly polarized microwaves, we have investigated the polarization selection rules of the NV center. We first apply this technique to NV ensembles in [100]- and [111]-oriented samples. Next, we demonstrate an imaging technique, based on optical polarization dependence, which allows rapid identification of the orientations of many single NV centers. Finally, we test the microwave polarization selection rules of individual NV centers of known orientation.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.76.165205

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The nitrogen vacancy (NV) center in diamond is promising as an electron spin qubit due to its long-lived coherence and optical addressability. The ground state is a spin triplet with two levels (ms=\ifmmode±\else\textpm\fi1)({m}_{s}=\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1)(ms​=\ifmmode±\else\textpm\fi1) degenerate at zero magnetic field. Polarization-selective microwave excitation is an attractive method to address the spin transitions independently since this allows operation down to zero magnetic field. Using a resonator designed to produce circularly polarized microwaves, we have investigated the polarization selection rules of the NV center. We first apply this technique to NV ensembles in [100]- and [111]-oriented samples. Next, we demonstrate an imaging technique, based on optical polarization dependence, which allows rapid identification of the orientations of many single NV centers. Finally, we test the microwave polarization selection rules of individual NV centers of known orientation.
Nitrogen-Vacancy centers negatively charged (NV-) are spin-1 objects in diamond. In the absence of a magnetic field, two of its levels are degenerate, which is why a field is often used to lift the degeneracy and allow easy access to each level. Following the work of Alegre, Mrozek and others, it was established that circularly polarized microwaves could address the difference in angular momentum between each level, making the introduction of the magnetic field unnecessary. These methods were assuming that the position of the microwave sources and the NV- was ideal. There was then work to be done to enable circularly polarized microwaves to work with an NV- at any position. To handle this freedom in the NV- position, characterization methods need to be developed to measure it and take it into account. This can be done with a custom-built confocal microscope, taking into account the orientation of a single NV-.
A collapse and revival shape of Rabi oscillations of a single Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) center electron spin has been observed in diamond at room temperature. Because of hyperfine interaction between the host 14N nuclear spin and NV center electron spin, different orientation of the 14N nuclear spin leads to a triplet splitting of the transition between the ground ms=0 and excited states ms=1. Microwave can excite the three transitions equally to induce three independent nutations and the shape of Rabi oscillations is a combination of the three nutations. This result provides an innovative view of electron spin oscillations in diamond.
A concept combining optics and microwave pulses with the negative charge-state of the nitrogen-vacancy (NV—) center in diamond is demonstrated through experiments that are equivalent to single-qubit gates, and decoherence for this qubit is examined. The spin levels of the ground state provide the two-level system. Optical excitation provides polarization of these states. The polarized state is operated coherently by 35 GHz microwave pulses. The final state is read out through the photoluminescence intensity. Decoherence arises from different sources for different samples. For high-pressure, high-temperature synthetic diamonds, the high concentration of substitutional N limits the phase-memory to a few μs. In a single-crystal CVD diamond, the phase memory time is at least 32 μs at 100 K. 14N is tightly coupled to the electronic spin and produces modulation of the electron–spin echo decay under certain conditions. A two-qubit gate is proposed using this nuclear spin. This demonstration provides a great deal of insight into quantum devices in the solid state with some possibility for real application.
Abstract Imaging of microwave magnetic fields with nano-scale resolution has interesting applications. Specifically, detecting the orientation of microwave fields is useful in condensed matter physics and quantum control. However, most of the existing methods for microwave field imaging are limited to detecting the magnitude of the fields. Due to their small sensor size and favorable optical and spin properties, nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond are highly suitable for imaging dc and ac magnetic fields. The reported methods for detecting the direction of microwave magnetic fields use pulsed Rabi frequency measurements. Here, we demonstrate imaging of the direction of linearly polarized microwave magnetic fields using only continuous-wave experiments on NV centers. This simplifies the sensor apparatus and is particularly advantageous in applications where pulsing of the target microwave field is not possible. The method requires a static bias magnetic field oriented perpendicular to the quantization axis of NV centers. We detect the direction of an arbitrary microwave magnetic field using NV centers of two different orientations of an NV ensemble. Moreover, we demonstrate that the projection of the microwave fields onto a plane can be imaged using NV centers of a single orientation. This can be straightforwardly implemented using a single NV center.
Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in a bulk diamond are often employed to realize measurement of multiple physical quantities, which depends on orientation information of NV axis. We report a fast and effective method to determine the orientation of NV axis with the aid of a static magnetic field. By measuring the optically detected magnetic resonance spectra, we can precisely extract the polar angle information between the NV axis and the known magnetic field. Combining with the polar angle information of different kinds of NV centers, we employ the Nelder–Mead algorithm to get the optimal solution of the orientation of NV axis. This method is simple and efficient, and is easily applied in NV-based quantum sensing.
Among the possible defects that can occur in diamonds, one that draws attention is the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center.Studied since the early 90s, in recent years, they became one of the most promising platforms for field applications of quantum technology at room temperature, especially for quantum sensing.They are sensitive to electric and magnetic fields, temperature, and strain, making these nanosensors a versatile platform for many applications.The NV center's spin state is easy to read and manipulate by optical means, and, most interestingly, it works well at room temperature, which facilitates its use.The great challenge to implement quantum protocols and quantum algorithms is the coherence time of the quantum states.The NV center stands out for having relatively high coherence times at room temperature.This dissertation presents measurements to characterize the electron spin coherence of NV centers in an ultrapure sample of diamond designed for quantum sensing applications.These measurements combine optical e magnetic resonance techniques.For that, a method was implemented using a conventional CCD camera and a clever imaging protocol, making it possible to perform various pulsed microwave experiments on the electron spin, such as Rabi oscillations and Hahn spin-echo, which were used for determining the characteristic relaxation times (T 1 and T 2 ).Results show that this system provides at least two readily accessible qubits that can be used in quantum protocols even at room temperature.