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Nature Communications

Jahn-Teller-induced femtosecond electronic depolarization dynamics of the nitrogen-vacancy defect in diamond

Ronald Ulbricht, Shuo Dong, I‐Ya Chang, Bala Murali Krishna Mariserla, Keshav M. Dani, Kim Hyeon‐Deuk, Zhi-Heng Loh

Published Nov 16, 2016• 36 citations

Abstract

Abstract Single-photon emission from the nitrogen-vacancy defect in diamond constitutes one of its many proposed applications. Owing to its doubly degenerate 3E electronic excited state, photons from this defect can be emitted by two optical transitions with perpendicular polarization. Previous measurements have indicated that orbital-selective photoexcitation does not, however, yield photoluminescence with well-defined polarizations, thus hinting at orbital-averaging dynamics even at cryogenic temperatures. Here we employ femtosecond polarization anisotropy spectroscopy to investigate the ultrafast electronic dynamics of the 3E state. We observe subpicosecond electronic dephasing dynamics even at cryogenic temperatures, up to five orders of magnitude faster than dephasing rates suggested by previous frequency- and time-domain measurements. Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations assign the ultrafast depolarization dynamics to nonadiabatic transitions and phonon-induced electronic dephasing between the two components of the 3E state. Our results provide an explanation for the ultrafast orbital averaging that exists even at cryogenic temperatures.

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13510

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Abstract Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) defect centers in diamond are key to applications in quantum sensing and quantum computing. They create localized electronic states in the diamond lattice with distinct population relaxation pathways following photoexcitation that ultimately enable its unique properties. The defect is known to exist in two charge states: neutral and negative, with respectively one and two known optically-active electronic transitions. Here, we report on the observation of a large number of hitherto undiscovered excited electronic states in both charge states as evidenced by distinct optical transitions in the infrared to ultraviolet part of the spectrum. These transitions are observed by monitoring the electronic relaxation of NV centers after photoexcitation using transient absorption spectroscopy, directly probing transient phenomena occurring on timescales from femtoseconds to microseconds. We also for the first time probed the electron transfer dynamics from the 3 E state of NV− to nearby single-substitutional nitrogen defects (N s ) that leads to the well-known effect of NV photoluminescence quenching.

We present a first-principles study of the multimode Jahn-Teller (JT) effect in the exctied

^{3}E

state of the negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond. Using density functional theory combined with an intrinsic distortion path (IDP) analysis, we resolve the full activation pathways of the JT distortion and quantitatively decompose the distortion into contributions from individual vibrational modes. We find that multiple vibrational modes participate cooperatively in the JT dynamics, giving rise to a shallow adiabatic potential energy surface with low barriers, consistent with thermally activated pseudorotation. The dominant JT-active modes are found to closely correspond to vibrational features observed in two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy (2DES), in agreement with recent ab initio molecular dynamics simulations. Our results establish a microscopic, mode-resolved picture of vibronic coupling in the excited-state NV center and provide new insight into dephasing, relaxation, and optically driven dynamics relevant to solid-state quantum technologies.

The negatively charged nitrogen vacancy (NV) center in diamond is an optically accessible material defect with a unique combination of spin and optical properties that has attracted interest in quantum-information sciences and as a design candidate for nanoscale quantum sensors. Here, we present time-resolved nonlinear optical spectroscopy measurements, conducted with ultrabroadband laser pulses, that reveal strong modulation of the excited-state by the longitudinal optical (LO) phonon of the diamond lattice. The LO phonon and its overtones geometrically distort neighboring NV centers, driving long lived (3.5 ps) excited state relaxation of coupled NV centers after the initial excitation and ultrafast (<150 fs) decay of the Jahn-Teller distortion. These observations elevate the LO phonon to an important tuning mode of the Jahn-Teller conical intersection and help resolve previous spectroscopy experiments that noted longer-lived excited-state dynamics.