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arXiv:2303.03860 · Physical Review A

Electron-spin double resonance of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond under a strong driving field

Takumi Mikawa, Ryusei Okaniwa, Yuichiro Matsuzaki, Norio Tokuda, Junko Ishi‐Hayase

Published Jul 10, 2023• 7 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond has been the focus of research efforts because of its suitability for use in applications such as quantum sensing and quantum simulations. Recently, the electron-spin double resonance (ESDR) of NV centers has been exploited for detecting radio-frequency (RF) fields with continuous-wave optically detected magnetic resonance. However, the characteristic phenomenon of ESDR under a strong RF field remains to be fully elucidated. In this study, we theoretically and experimentally analyzed the ESDR spectra under strong RF fields by adopting Floquet theory. Our analytical and numerical calculations could reproduce the ESDR spectra obtained by measuring the spin-dependent photoluminescence under the continuous application of a microwave and a RF field for a DC bias magnetic field perpendicular to the NV axis. We found that anticrossing structures that appear under a strong RF field are induced by the generation of RF-dressed states owing to the two-RF-photon resonances. Moreover, we found that $2n$-RF-photon resonances were allowed by an unintentional DC bias magnetic field parallel to the NV axis. These results should help in the realization of precise MHz-range AC magnetometry with a wide dynamic range beyond the rotating wave approximation regime as well as Floquet engineering in open quantum systems.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.108.012610

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The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond has been the focus of research efforts because of its suitability for use in applications such as quantum sensing and quantum simulations. Recently, the electron-spin double resonance (ESDR) of NV centers has been exploited for detecting radio-frequency (RF) fields with continuous-wave optically detected magnetic resonance. However, the characteristic phenomenon of ESDR under a strong RF field remains to be fully elucidated. In this study, we theoretically and experimentally analyzed the ESDR spectra under strong RF fields by adopting Floquet theory. Our analytical and numerical calculations could reproduce the ESDR spectra obtained by measuring the spin-dependent photoluminescence under the continuous application of a microwave and a RF field for a DC bias magnetic field perpendicular to the NV axis. We found that anticrossing structures that appear under a strong RF field are induced by the generation of RF-dressed states owing to the two-RF-photon resonances. Moreover, we found that 2n2n2n-RF-photon resonances were allowed by an unintentional DC bias magnetic field parallel to the NV axis. These results should help in the realization of precise MHz-range AC magnetometry with a wide dynamic range beyond the rotating wave approximation regime as well as Floquet engineering in open quantum systems.
The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center is a promising candidate to realize practical quantum sensors with high sensitivity and high spatial resolution at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. In conventional high-frequency AC magnetometry with NV centers, the setup requires a pulse sequence with an appropriate time synchronization and strong microwave power. To avoid these practical difficulties, AC magnetometry using continuous-wave optically detected magnetic resonance (CW-ODMR) was recently demonstrated. That previous study utilized radio frequency (RF)-dressed states generated by the coherent interaction between the electron spin of the NV center and the RF wave. However, the drawback of this method is that the detectable frequency of the AC magnetic fields is fixed. Here, we propose and demonstrate frequency-tunable magnetic field sensing based on CW-ODMR. In the new sensing scheme, we obtain RF double-dressed states by irradiation with RF fields at two different frequencies. One creates the RF-dressed states and changes the frequency of the target AC field. The other is a target AC field that induces a change in the CW-ODMR spectrum by generating the RF double-dressed states through coherent interaction with the RF-dressed states. The sensitivity of our method is estimated to be comparable to or even higher than that of the conventional method based on the RF field with a single frequency. The estimated bandwidth is 7.5 MHz, higher than that of the conventional method using the RF-dressed states. Our frequency-tunable magnetic field sensor based on CW-ODMR paves the way for new applications in diamond devices.
The nitrogen-vacancy center (NV) is a diamond spin defect consisting of a nitrogen atom and a carbon vacancy in two adjacent positions of the diamond lattice. Its remarkable spin-dependent optical properties make it a promising platform for quantum sensing and quantum information applications.In the present manuscript, two applications involving an ensemble of NV centers in diamond are investigated: a radio frequency (RF) spectrum analyser and a widefield imaging technique of the RF radiation emitted in near field by microwave devices.In the first chapter, the NV centers in diamond, their properties and the motivations behind the two NV centers based applications proposed in this manuscript are presented. The available solutions and the state-of-the-art techniques for both RF spectral analysis and near field imaging of RF radiation are reviewed and the potential of alternative solutions using NV centres are discussed.In the second chapter, a set-up for the widefield optical detection of the NV centers spin resonances is presented and used to investigate the main properties of this diamond defect. The NV center electron spin resonances are detected over a large frequency range (more than 10 GHz) and different phenomena are investigated: the behaviour of an ensemble of NV centers under a static magnetic field, the polarization properties of the NV center photoluminescence (PL) and how they can be exploited to recognise the NV centers orientations, the NV’s nitrogen nuclear spin polarization over a large frequency range (more than 2 GHz).The third chapter is devoted to the implementation of a real-time RF spectrum analyser based on an ensemble of NV centers. The main physical features of NV centers considered as MW detectors are investigated and an experimental architecture which allows a real time RF spectral analysis over a tuneable frequency range (10 MHz to 25 GHz), 4 GHz bandwidth, a MHz frequency resolution and a ms time resolution is demonstrated. The implementation of this device required an interesting analysis on the behaviour of an ensemble of NV centers under strong magnetic field gradient (tens of Tesla per meter) which is detailed in the chapter.The fourth and last chapter deals with the widefield imaging of RF field based on an ensemble of NV centers. Two techniques are proposed. The first is based on the RF power broadening of the NV center spin resonances in the continuous regime domain while the second is based on the widefield detection of NV centers Rabi oscillations in a pulsed regime. Both techniques allowed reconstructing the magnetic near field RF field emitted by a loop antenna. However, while the first technique requires a calibration to retrieve the amplitude of the RF field, the second allows a direct measurement of it. The widefield detection of the NV centers Rabi oscillations has thus been investigated both by means of experiments and simulations. Since the NV centers Rabi oscillations detected using our widefield experimental set-up showed an asymmetric shape, a model has been realized to figure out the NV centers behaviour during the pulse sequence employed to drive the Rabi oscillation. The results of the simulations, in agreement with the experimental results, enable to have a better insight of the NV center spin optical polarization and readout during the widefield detection of the Rabi oscillations.
The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond has attracted considerable attention as a highly sensitive quantum sensor that can operate at room temperature. In particular, continuous-wave optically detected magnetic resonance (CW-ODMR) is promising for a wide range of applications because of its simplicity. However, conventional AC magnetic-field sensing schemes based on CW-ODMR suffer from a limited detection bandwidth: the detectable frequency is either fixed by intrinsic physical parameters of the NV center or, even when tunable, restricted to a narrow range of only a few MHz. Here, we propose a broadband AC magnetometry scheme based on CW-ODMR with NV centers using microwave-driven dressed states.Through theoretical analysis and numerical simulations, we show that the proposed scheme enables the detection of AC magnetic fields with frequencies up to the order of 100 MHz, which has been difficult to achieve using conventional CW-ODMR-based methods.
Quantum systems driven by strong oscillating fields are the source of many interesting physical phenomena. In this work, we experimentally study the dynamics of a two-level system of a single spin driven in the strong-driving regime where the rotating-wave approximation is not valid. This two-level system is a subsystem of a single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond coupled to a first-shell 13C^{13}\mathrm{C}13C nuclear spin at a level anticrossing point. This near degeneracy occurs in the ${m}_{s}=\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1$ manifold of the electron spin when the energy level splitting between the ${m}_{s}=\ensuremath{-}1$ and +1+1+1 states due to the static magnetic field is $\ensuremath{\approx}127$ MHz and thus equal to the splitting due to the 13C^{13}\mathrm{C}13C hyperfine interaction. The transition frequency of this electron spin two-level system in a static magnetic field of 28.9 G is 1.7 MHz and it can be driven only by the component of the radio-frequency (RF) field along the NV symmetry axis. Electron spin Rabi frequencies in this system can reach tens of MHz even for moderate RF powers. The simple sinusoidal Rabi oscillations that occur when the amplitude of the driving field is small compared to the transition frequency evolve into complex patterns when the driving field amplitude is comparable to or greater than the energy level splitting. We observe that the system oscillates faster than the amplitude of the driving field and the response of the system shows multiple frequencies.
The Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) center in diamond is a prominent quantum system leveraged for advanced quantum metrology, particularly in high-precision magnetometry and high-resolution quantum imaging, exploiting the Optically Detected Magnetic Resonance (ODMR) spectroscopy technique. Proper radio-frequency (RF) excitation of NV centers is critical in order to manipulate these quantum states effectively. Our research focuses on optimizing the continuous-wave RF excitation of ensembles of NV centers on coplanar waveguide transmission lines (CPW-TL), measuring the centers' photoluminescence (PL) signal as a function of RF power. This setup enhances the sensitivity and resolution of the NV center PL signal. By combining CPW-TL lines with nanodiamonds, our approach aims to develop a scalable and tunable platform that can be deployed in a variety of quantum sensing scenarios, including in biomedical applications, navigation systems, environmental monitorlng, and beyond.
We propose a method to create a room-temperature maser operating at approximately 2.9~GHz frequency using an ensemble of negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy electronic spins (NV) in diamond, without requiring population inversion. Our method considers a DC magnetic field of a few milli-Tesla (mT) applied along the perpendicular direction of an ensemble of NV spins aligned along a common axis. This perpendicular magnetic-field creates superposition states of ∣ms=−1⟩|m_{\mathrm{s}}=-1\rangle∣ms​=−1⟩ and ∣ms=+1⟩|m_{\mathrm{s}}=+1\rangle∣ms​=+1⟩ of the NV spin's ground state triplet levels and thereby makes it possible to drive all three transitions in the NV spin ground state. We model the system by including optical pumping of the NV spins, near-resonant driving of two transitions, and coupling the third transition to a near-resonant microwave resonator. Numerical estimates using experimentally realizable parameters show that inversionless masing can be achieved inside the microwave resonator using our method. As an application, we show that the output intensity of an inversionless maser (1.1×10141.1\times10^{14}1.1×1014 spins) can be used for magnetic field sensing with a DC sensitivity on the order of a hundred pT/Hz\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}Hz​. Our study opens a new direction in room-temperature diamond NV maser devices for quantum technological applications without the requirement of a strong bias magnetic field, as in conventional NV diamond masers.