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Communications in Theoretical Physics

Improvement on the manipulation of a single nitrogen-vacancy spin and microwave photon at single-quantum level

Yuan Zhou, Dong‐Yan Lü, Guanghui Wang, Yanhua Fu, Ming-Yao He, Hong-Tao Ren

Published Mar 5, 2021• 7 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract It remains a great challenge to realize direct manipulation of a nitrogen-vacancy (NV) spin at the single-quantum level with a microwave (MW) cavity. As an alternative, a hybrid system with the spin–phonon–photon triple interactions mediated by a squeezed cantilever-type harmonic resonator is proposed. According to the general mechanical parametric amplification of this in-between phonon mode, the direct spin–phonon and photon–phonon couplings are both exponentially enhanced, which can even further improve the coherent manipulation of a single NV spin and MW photon with a higher efficiency. In view of this triple system with enhanced couplings and the additional sideband adjustable designs, this scheme may provide a more efficient phonon-mediated platform to bridge or manipulate the MW quantum and a single electron spin coherently. It is also hoped to evoke wider applications in the areas of quantum state transfer and preparation, ultrasensitive detection and quantum nondestructive measurement, etc.

DOI
10.1088/1572-9494/abec3a

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Abstract It remains a great challenge to realize direct manipulation of a nitrogen-vacancy (NV) spin at the single-quantum level with a microwave (MW) cavity. As an alternative, a hybrid system with the spin–phonon–photon triple interactions mediated by a squeezed cantilever-type harmonic resonator is proposed. According to the general mechanical parametric amplification of this in-between phonon mode, the direct spin–phonon and photon–phonon couplings are both exponentially enhanced, which can even further improve the coherent manipulation of a single NV spin and MW photon with a higher efficiency. In view of this triple system with enhanced couplings and the additional sideband adjustable designs, this scheme may provide a more efficient phonon-mediated platform to bridge or manipulate the MW quantum and a single electron spin coherently. It is also hoped to evoke wider applications in the areas of quantum state transfer and preparation, ultrasensitive detection and quantum nondestructive measurement, etc.
An investigation to significantly enhance coupling to nitrogen−vacancy (NV) centers at a single-quanta level is of great interest to further explore its applications in quantum information processing (QIP). This study explores a joint scheme to further enhance NV–phonon coherent coupling with two methods working together in hybrid optomechanical systems. Both methods are mechanics-induced mode field coupling (MFC) that lead, respectively, to the modification of the spatial distribution of the optical field and the mechanical parametric amplification (MPA) realized by modulating the mechanical spring constant in time. With the joint assistance of MFC and MPA, the coherent coupling between the NV spin and one supermode of the mechanical resonators (MRs) can be further significantly enhanced with the rate ∝ n ¯ cav e r . Several potential applications are also discussed in this work. With the ultimate goal to enhance the coupling to NV spin at a single-quanta level, this attempt may provide a promising spin–phonon platform to implement more active control.
We propose an efficient scheme for generating entangled states between a single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centre in diamond and a superconducting qubit in a hybrid set-up. In this device, the NV centre and the superconducting qubit couple to a nanomechanical resonator and a superconducting coplanar waveguide cavity, respectively, while the microwave cavity and the mechanical resonator are parametrically coupled with a tunable coupling strength. We show that, highly entangled states between the NV centre and the superconducting qubit can be achieved, by means of the Jaynes–Cummings interactions in the NV-resonator and qubit-cavity subsystems which transfer the entanglement between the vibration phonons and the cavity photons to the NV centre and the superconducting qubit. This work may provide interesting applications in quantum computation and communication with single NV spins and superconducting qubits.
The investigation on significantly enhancing the coupling to NV centers at single-quanta level is of great key point to further explore its application in quantum information processing (QIP). We here study a joint scheme to further enhance NV-phonon coherent coupling with two methods working together in a hybrid optomechanical systems. Both methods are mechanic-induced mode field coupling (MFC) leading to the modification of the spatial distribution of the optical field, and the mechanical parametric amplification (MPA) realized by modulating the mechanical spring constant in time, respectively. With the joint assistance of MFC and MPA, the coherent coupling between the NV spin and one supermode of the mechanical resonators (MRs) can be further enhanced significantly, with the rate ne^r, several potential applications on this proposal are also discussed in this work. For the ultimate target of enhancing the coupling to NV spin at single-quanta level, this attempt may provide a promising spin-phonon platform for implementing the more active control.
We propose an efficient scheme for a coherent quantum interface between microwave and optical photons using nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond. In this setup, an NV center ensemble is simultaneously coupled to an optical and a microwave cavity. We show that, by using the collective spin excitation modes as an intermediary, quantum states can be transferred between the microwave cavity and the optical cavity through either a double-swap scheme or a dark-state protocol. This hybrid quantum interface may provide interesting applications in single microwave photon detections or quantum information processing.
In quantum networks, robust and efficient frequency conversions of photons between microwave (MW) and optical regimes serve as a critical interface bridging superconducting quantum processors and optical communication channels. Recently, a topologically protected paradigm of state transfers, based on the topological nature of quantized light in Fock-state lattices (FSLs), has been demonstrated by a superconducting quantum circuit. However, its extension to quantum networks remains unexplored. Here we develop a topological single-photon MW–optics interface based on FSLs with a single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center spin embedded in a photonic crystal cavity (PCC). The NV spin mediates the effective strong coupling between the optical PCC mode and a superconducting MW resonator via the adiabatic elimination of an intermediate acoustic mode. This scheme establishes a hybrid MW-NV-optics two-mode Jaynes-Cummings model, yielding a topological FSL. Under the significant constraint of optical mode decay, numerical simulations reveal that the MW-to-optics conversion efficiency can exceed 26% for an input five-photon MW Fock state. This work establishes a topological paradigm for hybrid quantum transduction, offering an efficient solid-state framework for constructing large-scale quantum networks.
An efficient interface between a spin qubit and single photons is a key enabling system for quantum science and technology. We report on a coherently controlled diamond nitrogen-vacancy center electron spin qubit that is optically interfaced with an open microcavity. Through Purcell enhancement and an asymmetric cavity design, we achieve efficient collection of resonant photons, while on-chip microwave lines allow for spin qubit control at a 10 MHz Rabi frequency. With the microcavity tuned to resonance with the nitrogen-vacancy center’s optical transition, we use excited state lifetime measurements to determine a Purcell factor of 7.3 ± 1.6. Upon pulsed resonant excitation, we find a coherent photon detection probability of 0.5% per pulse. Although this result is limited by the finite excitation probability, it already presents an order of magnitude improvement over the solid immersion lens devices used in previous quantum network demonstrations. Furthermore, we use resonant optical pulses to initialize and read out the electron spin. By combining the efficient interface with spin qubit control, we generate two-qubit and three-qubit spin-photon states and measure heralded Z-basis correlations between the photonic time-bin qubits and the spin qubit. Current applications of NV centers in diamond as spin-photon interfaces for quantum networks are limited by low coherent photon emission. Here, the authors integrate a coherently controlled NV spin qubit with an open microcavity to achieve Purcell-enhanced emission and demonstrate spin-photon state generation.