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arXiv:1904.12332 · Physical Review A

Quantifying phonon-induced non-Markovianity in color centers in diamond

Ariel Norambuena, Jeronimo R. Maze, Peter Rabl, Raúl Coto

Published Feb 20, 2020• 16 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We propose the application of a coherence-based measure for non-Markovianity to study the dynamics of color centers in diamond, where the optical coherence between two orbital states is affected by interactions with a structured phonon bath. Although limited to pure dephasing, we show that this measure is well behaved at arbitrary temperatures and experimentally accessible through Ramsey spectroscopy. By taking realistic phonon spectral density functions into account, we use this quantity to show how non-Markovianity is affected by the presence of both bulk and quasilocalized phonon modes, as relevant for most defects in solids. Importantly, with only a minor modification the measure can be adapted to study the source of non-Markovianity in driven two-level systems and is thus applicable for a large class of systems modeled by the spin-boson Hamiltonian.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.101.022110

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We propose the application of a coherence-based measure for non-Markovianity to study the dynamics of color centers in diamond, where the optical coherence between two orbital states is affected by interactions with a structured phonon bath. Although limited to pure dephasing, we show that this measure is well behaved at arbitrary temperatures and experimentally accessible through Ramsey spectroscopy. By taking realistic phonon spectral density functions into account, we use this quantity to show how non-Markovianity is affected by the presence of both bulk and quasilocalized phonon modes, as relevant for most defects in solids. Importantly, with only a minor modification the measure can be adapted to study the source of non-Markovianity in driven two-level systems and is thus applicable for a large class of systems modeled by the spin-boson Hamiltonian.
Here we investigate the temperature-dependent non-Markovian dynamics of the SiV^- center in diamond, focusing on the roles of low- and high-frequency quasi-localized phonon modes. Low-frequency phonons exhibit stronger electron-phonon coupling, leading to long-lived dephasing rate, while high-frequency phonons induce rapid attenuation of oscillatory dephasing rate facilitating a persistent memory effect. The non-Markovianity measure N_C shows memory effects persisting at low temperatures but diminishing at high temperatures due to enhanced damping. The temperature dependence of N_C follows a monotonic decay, from which a transition temperature T_NM=110 K is determined. These results highlight the interplay between phonon activation and damping in shaping quantum coherence, offering insights for optimizing solid-state quantum systems.
Abstract Understanding defect-phonon interactions in solid-state devices is crucial for improving our current knowledge of quantum platforms. In this work, we develop first-principles calculations for a defect composed of two spin- 1 / 2 particles that interact with phonon modes in a one-dimensional lattice. We follow a bottom-up approach that begins with a dipolar magnetic interaction to ultimately derive the spectral density function and time-local master equation that describes the open dynamics of the defect. We provide theoretical and numerical analysis for the non-Markovian (NM) features of the defect-phonon dynamics induced by a pure dephasing channel acting on the Bell basis. Finally, we analyze two measures of NM based on the canonical rates and Coherence, shedding more light on the role of the spectral density function and temperature; and envisioning experimental realizations.
The electron-phonon interaction is one of the most fundamental mechanisms in condensed matter physics. Phonons can induce memory effects in solid-state platforms when localized electronic states interact with lattice vibrations in non-unitary dynamical maps. In this work, we demonstrate how single-mode and structured phonon environments can give rise to non-Markovian dynamics of an individual negatively charged silicon-vacancy center in diamond. Using trace distance as a quantifier via numerical simulations and theoretical calculations, we identify the physical conditions for emerging and understanding non-Markovian behavior in diverse scenarios. Most importantly, we investigate the influence of magnetic fields (longitudinal and transverse), phonon couplings, Fock states, and temperature to understand how these factors influence memory effects in this solid-state device.
Qubit coherence is an essential figure of merit for quantum information processing applications such as quantum computing, or quantum repeaters. Understanding the coherence properties of the underlying physical qubits that facilitate such applications is therefore are often limited by coupling to lattice phonons, which in turn constrains operation temperature. Here we study phonon induced electronic spin decoherence in group-IV vacancy centers in diamond. We begin by modeling the spin-phonon interaction and then employ the widely used Born-Markov approximation, highlighting its inconsistencies in this setting and its deviations from experimental observations. To close the gap between theoretical predictions and experimental results, we relax certain approximations, investigate their contributions to the predicted coherence times, and identify the dominant sources of discrepancy. We further demonstrate that experimentally measured electronic spin coherence dynamics are consistently captured within a non-Markovian framework, and we show how the magnetic field orientation influences the qubit coherence time.
Group-IV color centers in diamond (SiV, GeV, SnV) have emerged as leading solid-state spin-photon interfaces for quantum information processing applications. However, these qubits require cryogenic temperatures to achieve high fidelity operation due to interactions with the thermal phonon bath. In this work, we: (i) derive a detailed model of the decoherence from first-order acoustic phonon processes acting on the spin-orbit fine structure of these color centers; (ii) demonstrate agreement of the model's predicted coherence times with previous measurements; (iii) identify regimes to suppress phonon-mediated decoherence by changing magnetic-field and strain bias to allow higher temperature operation. This methodology enables prediction of decoherence processes in other color centers and solid-state qubit systems coupled to a thermal bath via a parasitic two-level system. By experiment-anchored decoherence models, we facilitate optimizing qubit coherence for specific applications and devices.
The coherence characteristics of a tin-vacancy (SnV) color center in diamond are investigated through optical means, including linewidth broadening effects and coherent population trapping (CPT) between the ground-state orbital levels. Spectral analysis is required as due to the large spin-orbit splitting of the orbital ground states, thermalization between the ground states occurs at rates that are impractical to measure directly in the time domain. First, by implementing a temperature-dependent linewidth broadening measurement, including the challenging-to-measure D transition, phononic coupling coefficients are determined. These measurements are performed on an emitter with a lifetime-limited linewidth and atomlike properties, making the measurement representative for high-quality SnVs. Next, a CPT-type experiment is carried out to independently analyze thermal decoherence processes at 4 K. The spectral information is transformed into its conjugate variable time, providing picosecond resolution and revealing an orbital depolarization timescale of ∼ 30 ps . Consequences of the investigated dynamics are then used to estimate spin dephasing times limited by thermal effects.