The fine structure of the neutral nitrogen‐vacancy center in diamond
M. S. J. Barson, Elmars Krausz, Neil B. Manson +1 more
Abstract The nitrogen‐vacancy (NV) center in diamond is a widely utilized system due to its useful quantum properties. Almost all research focuses on the negative charge state (NV − ) and comparatively little is understood about the neutral charge state (NV 0 ). This is surprising as the charge state often fluctuates between NV 0 and NV − during measurements. There are potentially under‐utilized technical applications that could take advantage of NV 0 , either by improving the performance of NV 0 or utilizing NV − directly. However, the fine structure of NV 0 has not been observed. Here, we rectify this lack of knowledge by performing magnetic circular dichroism measurements that quantitatively determine the fine structure of NV 0 . The observed behavior is accurately described by spin‐Hamiltonians in the ground and excited states with the ground state yielding a spin‐orbit coupling of λ = 2.24 ± 0.05 GHz and a orbital g ‐factor of 0.0186 ± 0.0005. The reasons why this fine structure has not been previously measured are discussed and strain‐broadening is concluded to be the likely reason.
arXiv:1905.09037•Nanophotonics•Jun 1, 2018•35 citations