Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:1205.0093 · Physical Review A

Gyroscopes based on nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond

M. P. Ledbetter, Kasper Jensen, Ran Fischer, Andrey Jarmola, Dmitry Budker

Published Nov 19, 2012• 142 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We propose solid-state gyroscopes based on ensembles of negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (${\mathrm{NV}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$) centers in diamond. In one scheme, rotation of the NV${}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ symmetry axis will induce Berry phase shifts in the ${\mathrm{NV}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ electronic ground-state coherences proportional to the solid angle subtended by the symmetry axis. We estimate a sensitivity in the range of $5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$ $\mathrm{rad}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}{\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}{\mathrm{Hz}}^{\ensuremath{-}1/2}$ in a 1-mm${}^{3}$ sensor volume using a simple Ramsey sequence. Incorporating dynamical decoupling to suppress dipolar relaxation may yield a sensitivity at the level of ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}5}$ $\mathrm{rad}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}{\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}{\mathrm{Hz}}^{\ensuremath{-}1/2}$. With a modified Ramsey scheme, Berry phase shifts in the ${}^{14}\mathrm{N}$ hyperfine sublevels would be employed. The projected sensitivity is in the range of ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}5}$ $\mathrm{rad}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}{\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}{\mathrm{Hz}}^{\ensuremath{-}1/2}$, however, the lower gyromagnetic ratio of ${}^{14}\mathrm{N}$ nuclei reduces the sensitivity to magnetic-field noise by several orders of magnitude. Reaching ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}5}$ $\mathrm{rad}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}{\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}{\mathrm{Hz}}^{\ensuremath{-}1/2}$ would represent an order of magnitude improvement over other compact, solid-state gyroscope technologies.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.86.052116

Related papers

Prospects of Spin Gyroscopes Based on Nitrogen-Vacancy Centers in Diamond

Andrey Jarmola, Dmitry Budker, Sami H. Hawasli +3 more

We are developing a solid-state gyroscope based on ensembles of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond. Rotation of the nitrogen-vacancy symmetry axis will induce Berry phase shifts in the electronic ground state 14N hyperfine sublevels and can be measured with a Ramsey technique.

Latin America Optics and Photonics Conference•Jan 1, 2018•0 citations

Stable three-axis nuclear-spin gyroscope in diamond

Ashok Ajoy, Paola Cappellaro

Gyroscopes find wide applications in everyday life from navigation and inertial sensing to rotation sensors in hand-held devices and automobiles. Current devices, based on either atomic or solid-state systems, impose a choice between long-time stability and high sensitivity in a miniaturized system. Here, we introduce a quantum sensor that overcomes these limitations by providing a sensitive and stable three-axis gyroscope in the solid state. We achieve high sensitivity by exploiting the long coherence time of the ${}^{14}$N nuclear spin associated with the nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond, combined with the efficient polarization and measurement of its electronic spin. Although the gyroscope is based on a simple Ramsey interferometry scheme, we use coherent control of the quantum sensor to improve its coherence time and robustness against long-time drifts. Such a sensor can achieve a sensitivity of $\ensuremath{\eta}\ensuremath{\sim}0.5\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}(\mathrm{mdeg}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}{\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1})/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}{\mathrm{mm}}^{3}}$ while offering enhanced stability in a small footprint. In addition, we exploit the four axes of delocalization of the nitrogen-vacancy center to measure not only the rate of rotation, but also its direction, thus obtaining a compact three-axis gyroscope.

arXiv:1205.1494•Physical Review A•Dec 11, 2012•141 citations

Quantum gyroscope based on three-dimensional rotation induced Berry phase

Huaijin Zhang, Zhang-Qi Yin

Solid-spin defects in diamond provide long coherence times and room-temperature optical initialization and readout, making them an attractive platform for compact solid-state quantum gyroscopes. A central challenge for NV-based gyroscopes is that the rotation-induced signal is weak, while near-resonant operation, although enhancing the response, can induce nonadiabatic transitions that degrade the accumulated geometric phase and readout fidelity. Here we investigate a levitated diamond under three-dimensional rotation, in which intrinsic ${}^{14}\mathrm{N}$ nuclear spins associated with NV centers act as sensing qubits. We show that the rotation is encoded in a geometric (Berry) phase and identify a near-resonant regime with strongly enhanced phase response. To suppress the resulting nonadiabatic leakage, we introduce a counter-diabatic protocol derived from the Kato gauge potential. This enables robust geometric-phase accumulation and improves the sensitivity by four orders of magnitude relative to the conventional detuned protocol. We further evaluate the achievable sensitivity and the dominant experimental limitations, including decoherence and protocol overhead, thereby establishing a realistic route toward high-performance NV-based solid-state quantum gyroscopes.

quant-pharXiv:2603.19906•Mar 23, 2026•0 citations

Inertial measurement with solid-state spins of nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond

Liye Zhao, Xiang Shen, Lumin Ji +1 more

The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center is one of the major platforms in the evolving field of quantum technologies. The inertial surveying technology based on NV centers in diamond is a developing field with both scientific and technological importance. Quantum measurement using the solid-state spin of the NV center has demonstrated potential in both high-precision and small-volume low-cost devices. In terms of rotation measurement, the optically detected magnetic resonance has provided a perspective of the rotation measurement mechanism via the solid-state spin of the NV center. A new type of gyroscope based on the solid-state spin in diamond according to the theory has attracted considerable attention. In addition, combined with the ingenious quantum mechanics manipulation and coupling mechanism, acceleration measurement can be achieved through an efficient quantum detection technology of the NV center. This review summarizes the recent research progress in diamond-based inertial measurement, including sensitivity optimization methods for inertial measurement systems based on the NV center.

Advances in Physics X•Jan 11, 2022•10 citations

Fast coherent control of nitrogen-14 spins associated with nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamonds using dynamical decoupling

Kosuke Mizuno, Ikuya Fujisaki, Hiroyoshi Tomioka +5 more

Abstract A nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in a diamond enables the access to an electron spin, which is expected to present highly sensitive quantum sensors. Although exploiting a nitrogen nuclear spin improves the sensitivity, manipulating it using a resonant pulse requires a long gate time owing to its small gyromagnetic ratio. Another technique to control nuclear spins is a conditional rotation gate based on dynamical decoupling, which is faster but unavailable for nitrogen spins owing to the lack of transverse hyperfine coupling with the electron spin. In this study, we generated effective transverse coupling by applying a weak off-axis magnetic field. An effective coupling depends on the off-axis field; the conditional rotation gate on the nitrogen-14 spins of an NV center was demonstrated within 4.2 μs under an 1.8% off-axis field and a longitudinal field of approximately 280 mT. We estimated that a population transfer from the electron to nitrogen spins can be implemented with 8.7 μs. Our method is applicable to an ensemble of NV centers, in addition to a single NV center.

arXiv:2309.14278•Journal of Physics Communications•Feb 21, 2024•3 citations

Nitrogen Vacancy centers in diamond as $\theta ^{2}$ sensors

Shonali Dhingra, Brian D’Urso

Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers are defects in diamonds, which, due to their electronic structure, have been extensively studied as magnetic field sensors. Such field detection applications usually employ the NV centers to detect field components aligned with the direction of the internally-defined spin axis of the NV center. In this work we detect magnetic fields not only aligned with the NV axis but making an angle $\theta$ with it. This detection scheme clearly shows that NV centers can be used as $\theta^2$ sensors. We further demonstrate that the sensitivity of this sensor increases very rapidly with increasing magnetic field, diverging as the external field approaches a value pre-defined by NV center's internal parameters. We show the sensitivity of this $\theta^2$ sensor matches up perfectly with the theoretical predictions of the same, made in one of our previous works~\cite{Durso11}. These results show that NV centers can be excellent for making quantum nondemolition (QND) measurements on systems such as a harmonic oscillator, to probe the oscillators quantum behavior.

arXiv:1503.00151•Bulletin of the American Physical Society•Feb 28, 2015•0 citations
We propose solid-state gyroscopes based on ensembles of negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV\ensuremath−{\mathrm{NV}}^{\ensuremath{-}}NV\ensuremath−) centers in diamond. In one scheme, rotation of the NV\ensuremath−{}^{\ensuremath{-}}\ensuremath− symmetry axis will induce Berry phase shifts in the NV\ensuremath−{\mathrm{NV}}^{\ensuremath{-}}NV\ensuremath− electronic ground-state coherences proportional to the solid angle subtended by the symmetry axis. We estimate a sensitivity in the range of 5\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fi10\ensuremath−35\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}3}5\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fi10\ensuremath−3 rads\ensuremath−1Hz\ensuremath−1/2\mathrm{rad}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}{\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}{\mathrm{Hz}}^{\ensuremath{-}1/2}rads\ensuremath−1Hz\ensuremath−1/2 in a 1-mm3{}^{3}3 sensor volume using a simple Ramsey sequence. Incorporating dynamical decoupling to suppress dipolar relaxation may yield a sensitivity at the level of 10\ensuremath−5{10}^{\ensuremath{-}5}10\ensuremath−5 rads\ensuremath−1Hz\ensuremath−1/2\mathrm{rad}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}{\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}{\mathrm{Hz}}^{\ensuremath{-}1/2}rads\ensuremath−1Hz\ensuremath−1/2. With a modified Ramsey scheme, Berry phase shifts in the 14N{}^{14}\mathrm{N}14N hyperfine sublevels would be employed. The projected sensitivity is in the range of 10\ensuremath−5{10}^{\ensuremath{-}5}10\ensuremath−5 rads\ensuremath−1Hz\ensuremath−1/2\mathrm{rad}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}{\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}{\mathrm{Hz}}^{\ensuremath{-}1/2}rads\ensuremath−1Hz\ensuremath−1/2, however, the lower gyromagnetic ratio of 14N{}^{14}\mathrm{N}14N nuclei reduces the sensitivity to magnetic-field noise by several orders of magnitude. Reaching 10\ensuremath−5{10}^{\ensuremath{-}5}10\ensuremath−5 rads\ensuremath−1Hz\ensuremath−1/2\mathrm{rad}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}{\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}{\mathrm{Hz}}^{\ensuremath{-}1/2}rads\ensuremath−1Hz\ensuremath−1/2 would represent an order of magnitude improvement over other compact, solid-state gyroscope technologies.
Gyroscopes find wide applications in everyday life from navigation and inertial sensing to rotation sensors in hand-held devices and automobiles. Current devices, based on either atomic or solid-state systems, impose a choice between long-time stability and high sensitivity in a miniaturized system. Here, we introduce a quantum sensor that overcomes these limitations by providing a sensitive and stable three-axis gyroscope in the solid state. We achieve high sensitivity by exploiting the long coherence time of the 14{}^{14}14N nuclear spin associated with the nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond, combined with the efficient polarization and measurement of its electronic spin. Although the gyroscope is based on a simple Ramsey interferometry scheme, we use coherent control of the quantum sensor to improve its coherence time and robustness against long-time drifts. Such a sensor can achieve a sensitivity of $\ensuremath{\eta}\ensuremath{\sim}0.5\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}(\mathrm{mdeg}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}{\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1})/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}{\mathrm{mm}}^{3}}$ while offering enhanced stability in a small footprint. In addition, we exploit the four axes of delocalization of the nitrogen-vacancy center to measure not only the rate of rotation, but also its direction, thus obtaining a compact three-axis gyroscope.
Solid-spin defects in diamond provide long coherence times and room-temperature optical initialization and readout, making them an attractive platform for compact solid-state quantum gyroscopes. A central challenge for NV-based gyroscopes is that the rotation-induced signal is weak, while near-resonant operation, although enhancing the response, can induce nonadiabatic transitions that degrade the accumulated geometric phase and readout fidelity. Here we investigate a levitated diamond under three-dimensional rotation, in which intrinsic 14N{}^{14}\mathrm{N}14N nuclear spins associated with NV centers act as sensing qubits. We show that the rotation is encoded in a geometric (Berry) phase and identify a near-resonant regime with strongly enhanced phase response. To suppress the resulting nonadiabatic leakage, we introduce a counter-diabatic protocol derived from the Kato gauge potential. This enables robust geometric-phase accumulation and improves the sensitivity by four orders of magnitude relative to the conventional detuned protocol. We further evaluate the achievable sensitivity and the dominant experimental limitations, including decoherence and protocol overhead, thereby establishing a realistic route toward high-performance NV-based solid-state quantum gyroscopes.
The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center is one of the major platforms in the evolving field of quantum technologies. The inertial surveying technology based on NV centers in diamond is a developing field with both scientific and technological importance. Quantum measurement using the solid-state spin of the NV center has demonstrated potential in both high-precision and small-volume low-cost devices. In terms of rotation measurement, the optically detected magnetic resonance has provided a perspective of the rotation measurement mechanism via the solid-state spin of the NV center. A new type of gyroscope based on the solid-state spin in diamond according to the theory has attracted considerable attention. In addition, combined with the ingenious quantum mechanics manipulation and coupling mechanism, acceleration measurement can be achieved through an efficient quantum detection technology of the NV center. This review summarizes the recent research progress in diamond-based inertial measurement, including sensitivity optimization methods for inertial measurement systems based on the NV center.
Abstract A nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in a diamond enables the access to an electron spin, which is expected to present highly sensitive quantum sensors. Although exploiting a nitrogen nuclear spin improves the sensitivity, manipulating it using a resonant pulse requires a long gate time owing to its small gyromagnetic ratio. Another technique to control nuclear spins is a conditional rotation gate based on dynamical decoupling, which is faster but unavailable for nitrogen spins owing to the lack of transverse hyperfine coupling with the electron spin. In this study, we generated effective transverse coupling by applying a weak off-axis magnetic field. An effective coupling depends on the off-axis field; the conditional rotation gate on the nitrogen-14 spins of an NV center was demonstrated within 4.2 μs under an 1.8% off-axis field and a longitudinal field of approximately 280 mT. We estimated that a population transfer from the electron to nitrogen spins can be implemented with 8.7 μs. Our method is applicable to an ensemble of NV centers, in addition to a single NV center.
Nitrogen Vacancy centers in diamond as θ2\theta ^{2}θ2 sensors
Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers are defects in diamonds, which, due to their electronic structure, have been extensively studied as magnetic field sensors. Such field detection applications usually employ the NV centers to detect field components aligned with the direction of the internally-defined spin axis of the NV center. In this work we detect magnetic fields not only aligned with the NV axis but making an angle θ\thetaθ with it. This detection scheme clearly shows that NV centers can be used as θ2\theta^2θ2 sensors. We further demonstrate that the sensitivity of this sensor increases very rapidly with increasing magnetic field, diverging as the external field approaches a value pre-defined by NV center's internal parameters. We show the sensitivity of this θ2\theta^2θ2 sensor matches up perfectly with the theoretical predictions of the same, made in one of our previous works~\cite{Durso11}. These results show that NV centers can be excellent for making quantum nondemolition (QND) measurements on systems such as a harmonic oscillator, to probe the oscillators quantum behavior.