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Quantum Computing in Diamond

Steven Prawer

Published May 28, 2007• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

The aim of this proposal is to demonstrate the key elements needed to construct a logical qubit in diamond by exploiting the remarkable quantum properties of the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) optical centre. Specifically, the focus of the work was to address the materials and fabrication issues. We have demonstrated (i) that individual NV qubits can be fabricated by ion implantation with long coherence times (>350 microseconds at room temperature), (ii) electrical control of the optical output of each individual centre is achievable via the Stark shift, (iii) coherent population trapping of ensembles and single NV centres allowing for all-optical control of qubit operations and (iv) that waveguides, cavities and photonic band-gap structures can be fabricated in single crystal diamond. We have thus demonstrated a nanofabrication tool-kit for diamond which is sufficiently robust and mature to justify future investment in the design and implementation of a scalable quantum computing architecture for diamond.

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VLSI quantum computer in diamond

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We discuss how Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) fabrication techniques can be used to build scalable solid-state quantum computers in diamond with either room temperature operation, or low temperature operation with photonic control. For this discussion we consider nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color centers where the qubits are electron and/or nuclear spins. To achieve scalability the NV centers are placed in well-defined locations using ion implantation, and are controlled using optical and/or microwave excitation as well as localized static electric and/or magnetic fields.

Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE•Feb 9, 2006•1 citation

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Abstract The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centre in diamond is a premier solid-state defect for quantum information processing and metrology. An integrated diamond quantum device harnesses the collective properties of multiple NV centres, enabling room-temperature quantum computing and sensing. While large-scale devices are poised to fill an important gap in the burgeoning quantum technology landscape, their practical realisation has not been achieved using current top-down fabrication techniques such as ion implantation. Consequently, this necessitates the development of a bottom-up fabrication technique, which is scalable, deterministic, and possesses atomic-scale precision. Informed by existing methods for fabricating phosphorous defect qubits in silicon, we envision a hydrogen depassivation lithography technique for atomically-precise manufacturing of nitrogen-vacancy centres in diamond. This perspective article outlines a viable multi-step procedure for realising scalable fabrication of diamond quantum devices and identifies the key challenges in its development.

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The purpose of this project was to develop quantum computing hardware suitable for implementing quantum lattice-gas algorithms, with eventual application to turbulent flow simulations. A number of quantum systems were investigated, including rare-earth dopants in oxide crystals and in II-VI semiconductors. However, in the option year it was decided to concentrate exclusively on nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color centers in diamond. Surprising, it was found that NV diamond exhibited the key elements needed to develop few-qubit room-temperature solid-state quantum processing nodes. This included the ability to optically initialize and readout the NV electron spin state, fractional millisecond lifetimes for electron spins, and few-nanosecond electron spin Rabi flops. We also demonstrated the relatively long distance (few nanometer) coupling of a single NV spin to the electron spin of a single substitutional nitrogen (N). To achieve long range optical interconnections and entanglement between nodes, cryogenic cooling will likely still be required to sufficiently narrow the optical absorption lines. To this end we located diamond samples with unusually high purity, and found NV centers in these crystals that exhibited exceptionally narrowband and stable optical lines. We also demonstrated electric field tuning of the optical transition frequency as required for controlling atom-atom and atom-cavity coupling.

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Laser-written nitrogen-vacancy centres in diamond membranes for quantum computing

Joe Gore

Manipulation of quantum effects for computing is an important step in the creation of faster and more powerful computational tools. The nitrogen vacancy centre (NVC) in diamond, when in the negative charge state, has shown significant promise towards being used as a qubit, such as optical polarization and readout, long coherence times (T∗ 2 and T2), and a long relaxation time T1. Such times are desired for producing good quantum memory, utilising the spin state of the sites. Cryogenic conditions are required for facilitating the optical entanglement of two NVC, and can serve to significantly extend these times. These sites have been created using a laser writing technique, capable of producing a large number of NVC with good coherence characteristics at arbitrary locations within diamond samples. This thesis reports on methods to reliably create NVC with good coherence characteristics for quantum computing applications by altering the annealing regime used. This annealing regime has been improved by the design and construction of a new vacuum furnace with better temperature control and thermometry. Steps towards the ideal combination of annealing conditions for a range of desired NV concentrations and characteristics have been undertaken, showing good conversion of laser written sites to NVC. NVC have been systematically tracked using a confocal fluorescence microscope apparatus throughout multiple annealing steps, with the collection of coherence data including T1, T2 and T∗ 2 on the same NV centre at multiple annealing temperatures, for the first time. This data allows for tracking of the influence of annealing temperature on the coherence properties of sites without the caveat of comparing data from either different sites, or different diamonds altogether. Such centres show coherence times above 800 μs, with production rates at and above 40% for single emitters. NVC are limited by their weak emission into the zero phonon line. These issues can be alleviated by increasing the collection efficiency of photons, which requires thin diamonds capable of being used with cavity systems. Steps towards producing such diamonds by a thin-region design have been undertaken and show promising results. Further efforts include the use of nanostructures on the diamond surface, which has been implemented and detailed. Magnetic control of NVC within diamond, especially at cryogenic temperatures, introduces some operational complexity to potential quantum operations. By implementing the use of diamond cut at the (111) crystal plane, this alignment is likely to become more straightforward, enabling future work with diamond at this crystal plane. Diamonds have been produced, with NVC laser written in, for the first time.

•Sep 17, 2026•0 citations

Diamond-based Fabry-Perot microcavities for quantum networks

Stefan Bogdanović

A quantumnetwork would allow the distribution of a quantum state over many spatially separated quantum nodes which individually possess the ability to generate, process and store quantum information. Connecting these nodes through quantum communication channels would enable sending quantum information over arbitrarily long distances, secret key distribution with guaranteed secure communication and distributed quantum computing. An appealing platform for implementation of quantum networks is the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond. An NV center is an optically active defect in diamond created by the substitution of two adjacent carbon atoms in the diamond crystal matrix by a nitrogen atom and a neighboring vacancy. The NV center fits remarkably well in the described quantum network framework. Its electronic spin can be optically initialized, read out in a single shot, coherently manipulated and coupled to the nearby carbon-13 nuclear spins. These properties represent necessary ingredients of a multi-qubit quantum node. The possibility of the entanglement between the state of the NV center spin and a photon establishes a photonic quantum link which can enable the entanglement of the quantum nodes, forming a quantum network. First building blocks of the proposed quantum networks based on NV centers were demonstrated by performing entanglement between two distant NV centers separated by more than a kilometer. However, the current success rate of the entangling protocols is greatly reduced due to the low emission probability of the NV center photons into the resonant zero phonon line (ZPL) and the inefficient photon extraction from the diamond. This is the central problem which prevents promoting our experiments beyond proof-of-principle demonstration towards practical implementation of the proposed quantumnetworks. The goal of this thesis is tackling these issues by coupling NV centers to optical cavities which would greatly increase the rate of generation and collection of the ZPL photons through themechanism of Purcell enhancement. The design and the fabrication of the components constituting a diamond-basedFabry-Perot microcavity, as used in this thesis, are described in Chapter 4. For large enhancement of the NV center resonant emission, a low cavity mode volume is necessary. This is achieved by inserting a micrometers thin diamond slab into the cavity architecture; we present the fabrication details of such samples. Chapter 5 describes the fabrication of an integrated platform for microwave signal delivery to the NV centers within a diamond membrane in the cavity architecture. Microwave striplines and arrays of unique markers are embedded in the mirror onto which the diamond is bonded. We investigate the mirror optical properties post fabrication and find that the fabrication method preserves the mirror optical performance. We describe the diamond bonding method and demonstrate addressing of the NV center spin. In Chapter 6 we probe the properties of the cavity with the embedded diamond membrane through measurements of the cavity finesse. We investigate the cavity finesse dependence on length, mode structure and temperature. We further explore the operation at cryogenic temperatures by probing the effect of cryostation vibration on the cavity linewidth. Finally, in Chapter 7 we discuss ways of improving the existing experimental capabilities, outline the first steps for demonstrating enhancement of the NV center resonant emission and suggest future experiments that can be performed with this system. We conclude that coupling of the NV centers to the cavities developed in this research could lead to an increase of remote entanglement success rates by more than three orders of magnitude.

•Jan 1, 2017•0 citations
The aim of this proposal is to demonstrate the key elements needed to construct a logical qubit in diamond by exploiting the remarkable quantum properties of the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) optical centre. Specifically, the focus of the work was to address the materials and fabrication issues. We have demonstrated (i) that individual NV qubits can be fabricated by ion implantation with long coherence times (>350 microseconds at room temperature), (ii) electrical control of the optical output of each individual centre is achievable via the Stark shift, (iii) coherent population trapping of ensembles and single NV centres allowing for all-optical control of qubit operations and (iv) that waveguides, cavities and photonic band-gap structures can be fabricated in single crystal diamond. We have thus demonstrated a nanofabrication tool-kit for diamond which is sufficiently robust and mature to justify future investment in the design and implementation of a scalable quantum computing architecture for diamond.
We discuss how Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) fabrication techniques can be used to build scalable solid-state quantum computers in diamond with either room temperature operation, or low temperature operation with photonic control. For this discussion we consider nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color centers where the qubits are electron and/or nuclear spins. To achieve scalability the NV centers are placed in well-defined locations using ion implantation, and are controlled using optical and/or microwave excitation as well as localized static electric and/or magnetic fields.
Abstract The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centre in diamond is a premier solid-state defect for quantum information processing and metrology. An integrated diamond quantum device harnesses the collective properties of multiple NV centres, enabling room-temperature quantum computing and sensing. While large-scale devices are poised to fill an important gap in the burgeoning quantum technology landscape, their practical realisation has not been achieved using current top-down fabrication techniques such as ion implantation. Consequently, this necessitates the development of a bottom-up fabrication technique, which is scalable, deterministic, and possesses atomic-scale precision. Informed by existing methods for fabricating phosphorous defect qubits in silicon, we envision a hydrogen depassivation lithography technique for atomically-precise manufacturing of nitrogen-vacancy centres in diamond. This perspective article outlines a viable multi-step procedure for realising scalable fabrication of diamond quantum devices and identifies the key challenges in its development.
The purpose of this project was to develop quantum computing hardware suitable for implementing quantum lattice-gas algorithms, with eventual application to turbulent flow simulations. A number of quantum systems were investigated, including rare-earth dopants in oxide crystals and in II-VI semiconductors. However, in the option year it was decided to concentrate exclusively on nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color centers in diamond. Surprising, it was found that NV diamond exhibited the key elements needed to develop few-qubit room-temperature solid-state quantum processing nodes. This included the ability to optically initialize and readout the NV electron spin state, fractional millisecond lifetimes for electron spins, and few-nanosecond electron spin Rabi flops. We also demonstrated the relatively long distance (few nanometer) coupling of a single NV spin to the electron spin of a single substitutional nitrogen (N). To achieve long range optical interconnections and entanglement between nodes, cryogenic cooling will likely still be required to sufficiently narrow the optical absorption lines. To this end we located diamond samples with unusually high purity, and found NV centers in these crystals that exhibited exceptionally narrowband and stable optical lines. We also demonstrated electric field tuning of the optical transition frequency as required for controlling atom-atom and atom-cavity coupling.
Manipulation of quantum effects for computing is an important step in the creation of faster and more powerful computational tools. The nitrogen vacancy centre (NVC) in diamond, when in the negative charge state, has shown significant promise towards being used as a qubit, such as optical polarization and readout, long coherence times (T∗ 2 and T2), and a long relaxation time T1. Such times are desired for producing good quantum memory, utilising the spin state of the sites. Cryogenic conditions are required for facilitating the optical entanglement of two NVC, and can serve to significantly extend these times. These sites have been created using a laser writing technique, capable of producing a large number of NVC with good coherence characteristics at arbitrary locations within diamond samples. This thesis reports on methods to reliably create NVC with good coherence characteristics for quantum computing applications by altering the annealing regime used. This annealing regime has been improved by the design and construction of a new vacuum furnace with better temperature control and thermometry. Steps towards the ideal combination of annealing conditions for a range of desired NV concentrations and characteristics have been undertaken, showing good conversion of laser written sites to NVC. NVC have been systematically tracked using a confocal fluorescence microscope apparatus throughout multiple annealing steps, with the collection of coherence data including T1, T2 and T∗ 2 on the same NV centre at multiple annealing temperatures, for the first time. This data allows for tracking of the influence of annealing temperature on the coherence properties of sites without the caveat of comparing data from either different sites, or different diamonds altogether. Such centres show coherence times above 800 μs, with production rates at and above 40% for single emitters. NVC are limited by their weak emission into the zero phonon line. These issues can be alleviated by increasing the collection efficiency of photons, which requires thin diamonds capable of being used with cavity systems. Steps towards producing such diamonds by a thin-region design have been undertaken and show promising results. Further efforts include the use of nanostructures on the diamond surface, which has been implemented and detailed. Magnetic control of NVC within diamond, especially at cryogenic temperatures, introduces some operational complexity to potential quantum operations. By implementing the use of diamond cut at the (111) crystal plane, this alignment is likely to become more straightforward, enabling future work with diamond at this crystal plane. Diamonds have been produced, with NVC laser written in, for the first time.
A quantumnetwork would allow the distribution of a quantum state over many spatially separated quantum nodes which individually possess the ability to generate, process and store quantum information. Connecting these nodes through quantum communication channels would enable sending quantum information over arbitrarily long distances, secret key distribution with guaranteed secure communication and distributed quantum computing. An appealing platform for implementation of quantum networks is the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond. An NV center is an optically active defect in diamond created by the substitution of two adjacent carbon atoms in the diamond crystal matrix by a nitrogen atom and a neighboring vacancy. The NV center fits remarkably well in the described quantum network framework. Its electronic spin can be optically initialized, read out in a single shot, coherently manipulated and coupled to the nearby carbon-13 nuclear spins. These properties represent necessary ingredients of a multi-qubit quantum node. The possibility of the entanglement between the state of the NV center spin and a photon establishes a photonic quantum link which can enable the entanglement of the quantum nodes, forming a quantum network. First building blocks of the proposed quantum networks based on NV centers were demonstrated by performing entanglement between two distant NV centers separated by more than a kilometer. However, the current success rate of the entangling protocols is greatly reduced due to the low emission probability of the NV center photons into the resonant zero phonon line (ZPL) and the inefficient photon extraction from the diamond. This is the central problem which prevents promoting our experiments beyond proof-of-principle demonstration towards practical implementation of the proposed quantumnetworks. The goal of this thesis is tackling these issues by coupling NV centers to optical cavities which would greatly increase the rate of generation and collection of the ZPL photons through themechanism of Purcell enhancement. The design and the fabrication of the components constituting a diamond-basedFabry-Perot microcavity, as used in this thesis, are described in Chapter 4. For large enhancement of the NV center resonant emission, a low cavity mode volume is necessary. This is achieved by inserting a micrometers thin diamond slab into the cavity architecture; we present the fabrication details of such samples. Chapter 5 describes the fabrication of an integrated platform for microwave signal delivery to the NV centers within a diamond membrane in the cavity architecture. Microwave striplines and arrays of unique markers are embedded in the mirror onto which the diamond is bonded. We investigate the mirror optical properties post fabrication and find that the fabrication method preserves the mirror optical performance. We describe the diamond bonding method and demonstrate addressing of the NV center spin. In Chapter 6 we probe the properties of the cavity with the embedded diamond membrane through measurements of the cavity finesse. We investigate the cavity finesse dependence on length, mode structure and temperature. We further explore the operation at cryogenic temperatures by probing the effect of cryostation vibration on the cavity linewidth. Finally, in Chapter 7 we discuss ways of improving the existing experimental capabilities, outline the first steps for demonstrating enhancement of the NV center resonant emission and suggest future experiments that can be performed with this system. We conclude that coupling of the NV centers to the cavities developed in this research could lead to an increase of remote entanglement success rates by more than three orders of magnitude.