The spin on a silicon defect in diamond can be prepared in a coherent quantum state, a promising sign that it could encode information in a quantum internet.
From jewelry stores to quantum labs — diamonds have found a new sparkle in the world of quantum technologies. Their atomic-scale color centers host electron and nuclear spins that can serve as long-lived qubits and bright photon sources, making them powerful candidates for realizing quantum networks. In this talk, I’ll explore how these tiny defects in diamond enable us to connect stationary quantum memories through flying photonic qubits. We’ll look at the fundamental principles, key experimental advances, and ongoing challenges in creating scalable quantum links — and discuss how “shining light on defects” may become the key to the quantum internet.
Novel solid-state qubits have a lot to offer for quantum information processing because of the potential simplicity of engineering quantum computational hardware similar to modern silicon-based electronics. This work presents optical and electron-spin properties of a novel germanium-vacancy defect in diamond. The defect center combines high brightness and exceptional spectral stability with microwave and optical access to electron spin. The combination of a spin-\textonehalf{} qubit and an optical interface makes possible of the germanium-vacancy defect in scalable quantum networks.
In search of the right diamond defect Certain defects in diamond are among the most promising physical implementations of qubits, the building blocks of quantum computers. However, identifying a defect with balanced properties is tricky: Nitrogen vacancy centers have a long lifetime but comparatively poor optical properties, whereas negatively charged silicon vacancy centers have the opposite characteristics. Rose et al. used careful materials engineering to stabilize the neutral charge state of silicon vacancy centers and found that they combine long coherence times with excellent optical properties. Science , this issue p. 60