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

Physical Review Letters

Tuning a Spin Bath through the Quantum-Classical Transition

Friedemann Reinhard, Fazhan Shi, Nan Zhao, F. Rempp, Boris Naydenov, Jan Meijer, Liam T. Hall, Lloyd C. L. Hollenberg, Jiangfeng Du, Ren‐Bao Liu, Jörg Wrachtrup

Published May 15, 2012• 69 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We study decoherence of a single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center induced by the 13C nuclear spin bath of diamond. By comparing Hahn-Echo experiments on single and double-quantum transitions of the NV triplet ground state we demonstrate that this bath can be tuned into two different regimes. At low magnetic fields, the nuclei behave as a quantum bath which causes decoherence by entangling with the NV central spin. At high magnetic fields, the bath behaves as a source of classical magnetic field noise, which creates decoherence by imprinting a random phase on the NV central spin.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.108.200402

Related papers

Electron Spin Decoherence of Nitrogen-Vacancy Center Coupled to Multiple Spin Baths

Jian Ping Xing, Yanchun Chang, Ning Wang +2 more

We present the experimental results of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) electron spin decoherence, which are linked to the coexistence of electron spin bath of nitrogen impurity (P1 center) and 13 C nuclear spin bath. In previous works, only one dominant decoherence source is studied: P1 electron spin bath for type-Ib diamond; or 13 C nuclear spin bath for type-IIa diamond. In general, the thermal fluctuation from both spin baths can be eliminated by the Hahn echo sequence, resulting in a long coherence time ( T 2 ) of about 400 μs. However, in a high-purity type-IIa diamond where 13 C nuclear spin bath is the dominant decoherence source, dramatic decreases of NV electron spin T 2 time caused by P1 electron spin bath are observed under certain magnetic field. We further apply the engineered Hahn echo sequence to confirm the decoherence mechanism of multiple spin baths and quantitatively estimate the contribution of P1 electron spin bath. Our results are helpful to understand the NV decoherence mechanisms, which will benefit quantum computing and quantum metrology.

Chinese Physics Letters•Oct 1, 2016•3 citations

Spin bath mediated long-lived coherent oscillations of NV centers in diamond

Akshat Rana, Pooja Lamba, Basanta Mistri +3 more

Decoherence is the biggest bottleneck in all quantum technologies. For nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond, the loss of coherence is caused by the electron and nuclear spin bath of the diamond lattice. Here, we demonstrate that the spin bath - that typically causes decoherence - entangles the spin states of the NV electron and the host $^{14}$N nucleus. The many-body interaction between the $^{14}$N nucleus - electron - bath spins at an energy level anti-crossing occurring for an applied magnetic field orientation perpendicular to the NV axis is responsible for this effect. This is observed experimentally in NV ensembles via electron spin-echo measurements, where the echo envelope is modulated at the frequency of a $^{14}$N nuclear spin transition. Using numerical simulations, we show that the spin bath coupling to the NV centers is essential for observing this modulation. Due to the zero first-order Zeeman effect at the anti-crossing, the observed oscillations have long spin-echo coherence times, 2--3 times those at the parallel magnetic field orientation. The oscillation frequency is highly stable and robust against environmental fluctuations. These findings provide new opportunities for fundamental studies of many-body physics and quantum sensing.

quant-pharXiv:2606.30146•Jun 30, 2026•0 citations

Decoherence of nitrogen-vacancy spin ensembles in a nitrogen electron-nuclear spin bath in diamond

Huijin Park, Jung‐Hyun Lee, Sang-Wook Han +2 more

Abstract Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond have been developed into essential hardware units for a wide range of solid-state-based quantum technology applications. While such applications require the long spin coherence times of the NV centers, they are often limited due to decoherence. In this study, we theoretically investigate the decoherence of NV-spin ensembles induced by nitrogen impurities (P1 centers), which are one of the most dominant and inevitable magnetic field noise sources in diamond. We combined cluster correlation expansion and density functional theory to compute the Hahn-echo spin-coherence time of the NV centers for a broad range of P1 concentrations. Results indicate a clear linear dependence of T2 on P1 concentrations on a log scale with a slope of −1.06, which is in excellent agreement with previous experimental results. The interplay between the Jahn–Teller effect and the hyperfine interaction in the P1 center plays a critical role in determining the bath dynamics and the resulting NV decoherence. Our results provide a theoretical upper bound for the NV-spin T2 over a wide range of P1 densities, serving as a key reference for materials optimization and spin bath characterization to develop highly coherent NV-based devices for quantum information technology.

npj Quantum Information•Aug 12, 2022•46 citations

Decoherence and dynamical decoupling control of nitrogen vacancy center electron spins in nuclear spin baths

Nan Zhao, Sai-Wah Ho, Ren‐Bao Liu

We theoretically study the decoherence and the dynamical decoupling control of nitrogen vacancy center electron spins in high-purity diamond, where the hyperfine interaction with ${}^{13}$C nuclear spins is the dominating decoherence mechanism. The decoherence is formulated as the entanglement between the electron spin and the nuclear spins, which is induced by nuclear spin bath evolution conditioned on the electron spin state. The nuclear spin bath evolution is driven by elementary processes such as single spin precession and pairwise flip flops. The importance of different elementary processes in the decoherence depends on the strength of the external magnetic field.

arXiv:1108.2343•Physical Review B•Mar 8, 2012•225 citations

Decoherence-protected transitions of nitrogen vacancy centers in 99% 13C-enriched diamond

Anna J. Parker, Haijing Wang, Yiran Li +2 more

Nitrogen vacancy (NV-) color centers in diamond are a prime candidate for use in quantum information devices, owing to their spin-1 ground state, straightforward optical initialization and readout, and long intrinsic coherence times in a room-temperature solid. While the 13C nuclear spin is often a dominant source of magnetic noise, we observe transitions between electron-nuclear hyperfine states of NV- centers in 99% 13C diamond that are robust to decoherence. At magnetic field strengths ranging from 550 - 900 G, these transitions are observable by optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR), and exhibit linewidths narrowed by factors as high as ~130 at room temperature over typical electron-type transitions observed from this spin system. We anticipate the use of these decoherence-protected transitions, in combination with dynamical decoupling methods, for storage of quantum information.

arXiv:1506.05484•Jun 17, 2015•6 citations

Extending dephasing time of nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond by suppressing nuclear spin noise

Xinyu Chen, Chu-Dan Qiu, Ya-Nan Lu +4 more

Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond are a leading competitor for quantum sensing. The resolution of DC magnetic field sensing is limited by dephasing of the NV electron spin, with the main dephasing source being the thermal and quantum noise from the $^{13}\mathrm{C}$ nuclear spin bath. In this work, we propose an effective method to extend the dephasing time of a single NV electron spin by suppressing the nuclear spin noise. On the one hand, we improve the technique of bath driving to accommodate nuclear spin bath decoupling, and extend the dephasing time from 2.6 to 10.2 $\textmu{}\mathrm{s}$ at a magnetic field of 455 G. On the other hand, our method enables decoupling the quantum noise by inserting $\ensuremath{\pi}$ rotations around the $Z$ axis of the nuclear spin bath into the free evolution. By suppressing both the thermal and quantum noise, the dephasing time is extended by more than four times at 100 G. Our results provide a new route to explore strategies of suppressing the thermal noise and quantum noise in quantum information processing, and can be applied to other solid-state defects.

Physical review. B./Physical review. B•Nov 29, 2023•15 citations
We study decoherence of a single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center induced by the 13C nuclear spin bath of diamond. By comparing Hahn-Echo experiments on single and double-quantum transitions of the NV triplet ground state we demonstrate that this bath can be tuned into two different regimes. At low magnetic fields, the nuclei behave as a quantum bath which causes decoherence by entangling with the NV central spin. At high magnetic fields, the bath behaves as a source of classical magnetic field noise, which creates decoherence by imprinting a random phase on the NV central spin.
We present the experimental results of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) electron spin decoherence, which are linked to the coexistence of electron spin bath of nitrogen impurity (P1 center) and 13 C nuclear spin bath. In previous works, only one dominant decoherence source is studied: P1 electron spin bath for type-Ib diamond; or 13 C nuclear spin bath for type-IIa diamond. In general, the thermal fluctuation from both spin baths can be eliminated by the Hahn echo sequence, resulting in a long coherence time ( T 2 ) of about 400 μs. However, in a high-purity type-IIa diamond where 13 C nuclear spin bath is the dominant decoherence source, dramatic decreases of NV electron spin T 2 time caused by P1 electron spin bath are observed under certain magnetic field. We further apply the engineered Hahn echo sequence to confirm the decoherence mechanism of multiple spin baths and quantitatively estimate the contribution of P1 electron spin bath. Our results are helpful to understand the NV decoherence mechanisms, which will benefit quantum computing and quantum metrology.
Decoherence is the biggest bottleneck in all quantum technologies. For nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond, the loss of coherence is caused by the electron and nuclear spin bath of the diamond lattice. Here, we demonstrate that the spin bath - that typically causes decoherence - entangles the spin states of the NV electron and the host 14^{14}14N nucleus. The many-body interaction between the 14^{14}14N nucleus - electron - bath spins at an energy level anti-crossing occurring for an applied magnetic field orientation perpendicular to the NV axis is responsible for this effect. This is observed experimentally in NV ensembles via electron spin-echo measurements, where the echo envelope is modulated at the frequency of a 14^{14}14N nuclear spin transition. Using numerical simulations, we show that the spin bath coupling to the NV centers is essential for observing this modulation. Due to the zero first-order Zeeman effect at the anti-crossing, the observed oscillations have long spin-echo coherence times, 2--3 times those at the parallel magnetic field orientation. The oscillation frequency is highly stable and robust against environmental fluctuations. These findings provide new opportunities for fundamental studies of many-body physics and quantum sensing.
Abstract Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond have been developed into essential hardware units for a wide range of solid-state-based quantum technology applications. While such applications require the long spin coherence times of the NV centers, they are often limited due to decoherence. In this study, we theoretically investigate the decoherence of NV-spin ensembles induced by nitrogen impurities (P1 centers), which are one of the most dominant and inevitable magnetic field noise sources in diamond. We combined cluster correlation expansion and density functional theory to compute the Hahn-echo spin-coherence time of the NV centers for a broad range of P1 concentrations. Results indicate a clear linear dependence of T2 on P1 concentrations on a log scale with a slope of −1.06, which is in excellent agreement with previous experimental results. The interplay between the Jahn–Teller effect and the hyperfine interaction in the P1 center plays a critical role in determining the bath dynamics and the resulting NV decoherence. Our results provide a theoretical upper bound for the NV-spin T2 over a wide range of P1 densities, serving as a key reference for materials optimization and spin bath characterization to develop highly coherent NV-based devices for quantum information technology.
We theoretically study the decoherence and the dynamical decoupling control of nitrogen vacancy center electron spins in high-purity diamond, where the hyperfine interaction with 13{}^{13}13C nuclear spins is the dominating decoherence mechanism. The decoherence is formulated as the entanglement between the electron spin and the nuclear spins, which is induced by nuclear spin bath evolution conditioned on the electron spin state. The nuclear spin bath evolution is driven by elementary processes such as single spin precession and pairwise flip flops. The importance of different elementary processes in the decoherence depends on the strength of the external magnetic field.
Nitrogen vacancy (NV-) color centers in diamond are a prime candidate for use in quantum information devices, owing to their spin-1 ground state, straightforward optical initialization and readout, and long intrinsic coherence times in a room-temperature solid. While the 13C nuclear spin is often a dominant source of magnetic noise, we observe transitions between electron-nuclear hyperfine states of NV- centers in 99% 13C diamond that are robust to decoherence. At magnetic field strengths ranging from 550 - 900 G, these transitions are observable by optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR), and exhibit linewidths narrowed by factors as high as ~130 at room temperature over typical electron-type transitions observed from this spin system. We anticipate the use of these decoherence-protected transitions, in combination with dynamical decoupling methods, for storage of quantum information.
Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond are a leading competitor for quantum sensing. The resolution of DC magnetic field sensing is limited by dephasing of the NV electron spin, with the main dephasing source being the thermal and quantum noise from the 13C^{13}\mathrm{C}13C nuclear spin bath. In this work, we propose an effective method to extend the dephasing time of a single NV electron spin by suppressing the nuclear spin noise. On the one hand, we improve the technique of bath driving to accommodate nuclear spin bath decoupling, and extend the dephasing time from 2.6 to 10.2 $\textmu{}\mathrm{s}$ at a magnetic field of 455 G. On the other hand, our method enables decoupling the quantum noise by inserting $\ensuremath{\pi}$ rotations around the ZZZ axis of the nuclear spin bath into the free evolution. By suppressing both the thermal and quantum noise, the dephasing time is extended by more than four times at 100 G. Our results provide a new route to explore strategies of suppressing the thermal noise and quantum noise in quantum information processing, and can be applied to other solid-state defects.