Microwave to Optical Transducer with Single NV Centers

Ignas Lekavicius, D. Andrew Golter, Thein Oo +1 more

Jacob P. Covey

Akshat Rana, Pooja Lamba, Atanu Ghosh +2 more

Abstract Imaging of microwave magnetic fields with nano-scale resolution has interesting applications. Specifically, detecting the orientation of microwave fields is useful in condensed matter physics and quantum control. However, most of the existing methods for microwave field imaging are limited to detecting the magnitude of the fields. Due to their small sensor size and favorable optical and spin properties, nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond are highly suitable for imaging dc and ac magnetic fields. The reported methods for detecting the direction of microwave magnetic fields use pulsed Rabi frequency measurements. Here, we demonstrate imaging of the direction of linearly polarized microwave magnetic fields using only continuous-wave experiments on NV centers. This simplifies the sensor apparatus and is particularly advantageous in applications where pulsing of the target microwave field is not possible. The method requires a static bias magnetic field oriented perpendicular to the quantization axis of NV centers. We detect the direction of an arbitrary microwave magnetic field using NV centers of two different orientations of an NV ensemble. Moreover, we demonstrate that the projection of the microwave fields onto a plane can be imaged using NV centers of a single orientation. This can be straightforwardly implemented using a single NV center.

Alexander P. Nizovtsev, S. Ya. Kilin, Fedor Jelezko +4 more

In an effort to realize a two-bit processor for a quantum computer on the basis of single nitrogen-vacancy defect centers (NV centers) in diamond, the optically detected nutations of the electron spin of a single NV center in the ground state and of the nuclear spin of a 13 C atom located at a diamond lattice site nearest to the NV center are studied. The photodynamics of NV and NV + 13 C centers under different temperatures and optical excitation conditions is discussed. A seven-level model of a center excited by radiation from an Ar + laser at room temperature is proposed. On the basis of this model, the experimental spectra of optically detected electron paramagnetic and electron-nuclear double resonances of single NV and NV + 13 C centers in diamond nanocrystals, as well as experimental data on the optically detected nutations of the electron and nuclear spins of these centers caused by the actions of pulsed microwave and radiofrequency fields, respectively, are interpreted.

Andrew P. Higginbotham, Peter S. Burns, Robert W. Peterson +7 more

Sarang Mittal, Benjamin Brubaker, Maxwell D. Urmey +5 more