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Journal of Lightwave Technology

A Wideband Balun-Based Microwave Device for Quantum Information Processing With Nitrogen–Vacancy Centers in Diamond

Feifei Ge, Bing Chen, Yangpeng Wang, Feifei Zhou, Renfei Zheng, Xiaofan Yang, Peng Qian, Nanyang Xu

Published Jan 27, 2022• 7 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present a wideband balun-based microwave device for quantum manipulation of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond. The device employs a balun with multi-section Chebyshev impedance transformer to realize the conversion from the unbalanced feed line to the balanced feed line and ensures impedance matching. A bandwidth of 2.2 GHz with the maximum resonance frequency up to 4.4 GHz has been realized, which is important for multi-qubit quantum control of the nitrogen-vacancy centers. We also carry out optically detected magnetic resonance to observe Rabi oscillations and calibrate the strength of the microwave magnetic field generated by the microwave device. With an input power of 0.5 W, the Rabi frequencies can reach 6.17 MHz and 6.06 MHz for resonant microwave at 1.40 GHz and 4.34 GHz, respectively. Combining with large bandwidth and excellent magnetic field homogeneity, the device can be applied in solid-state quantum information processing.

DOI
10.1109/jlt.2022.3146265

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We present a wideband balun-based microwave device for quantum manipulation of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond. The device employs a balun with multi-section Chebyshev impedance transformer to realize the conversion from the unbalanced feed line to the balanced feed line and ensures impedance matching. A bandwidth of 2.2 GHz with the maximum resonance frequency up to 4.4 GHz has been realized, which is important for multi-qubit quantum control of the nitrogen-vacancy centers. We also carry out optically detected magnetic resonance to observe Rabi oscillations and calibrate the strength of the microwave magnetic field generated by the microwave device. With an input power of 0.5 W, the Rabi frequencies can reach 6.17 MHz and 6.06 MHz for resonant microwave at 1.40 GHz and 4.34 GHz, respectively. Combining with large bandwidth and excellent magnetic field homogeneity, the device can be applied in solid-state quantum information processing.
Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) centers in diamond are attractive tools for sensing and quantum information. Realization of this potential requires effective tools for controlling the spin degree of freedom by microwave (mw) magnetic fields. In this work, we present a planar microwave resonator optimized for microwave-optical double resonance experiments on single NV centers in diamond. It consists of a piece of wide microstrip line, which is symmetrically connected to two 50 Ω microstrip feed lines. In the center of the resonator, an Ω-shaped loop focuses the current and the mw magnetic field. It generates a relatively homogeneous magnetic field over a volume of 0.07 × 0.1 mm3. It can be operated at 2.9 GHz in both transmission and reflection modes with bandwidths of 1000 and 400 MHz, respectively. The high power-to-magnetic field conversion efficiency allows us to produce π-pulses with a duration of 50 ns with only about 200 and 50 mW microwave power in transmission and reflection, respectively. The transmission mode also offers capability for efficient radio frequency excitation. The resonance frequency can be tuned between 1.3 and 6 GHz by adjusting the length of the resonator. This will be useful for experiments on NV-centers at higher external magnetic fields and on different types of optically active spin centers.
For quantum sensing based on nitrogen-vacancies (NV) ensembles, microwave antennas can couple the microwave field to the NV center, which leads it to becoming the core of spin manipulation and can directly affect the sensitivity of quantum sensing. The double split-ring resonator is a widely used microwave device for NV ensembles due to the advantages of high radiation efficiency and uniform magnetic field in millimeter-scale areas. But the bandwidth (30 MHz) is quite narrow which limits the application in quantum sensing with NV ensembles. Here, we experimentally achieve continuous tuning of the resonant frequency of the double split-ring resonator by changing the copper sheet position on the edge of the outer ring. The frequency tuning range can reach 80 MHz, up to 2-3 times the bandwidth, which can cover the transition of the electron spin under different magnetic field conditions. The performance of the tunable antenna in the quantum operation of NV centers is verified by optically detected magnetic resonance and Rabi oscillation. This tunable antenna is promising in the fabrication of integrated and arrayed quantum sensors based on NV ensembles.
Microwave magnetometry is essential to a variety of modern electronic techniques, most notably integrated circuits. The nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond has shown the ability of nanoscale resolution for the microwave magnetic field measurement and imaging. However, the characterization of the wideband magnetic field remains a challenge. Here we experimentally demonstrated a wideband microwave magnetometry with an off-resonance protocol based on the Bloch-Siegert shift effect. The off-resonance microwave magnetic field shifts the energy level of the nitrogen-vacancy center. It results in a phase accumulation during the evolution of the superposition state of the quantum sensor. According to this effect, by optimizing the evolution time, we experimentally verified the bandwidth widening of an order of magnitude compared with the Rabi oscillation, i.e., on-resonance method with an acceptable decrease of the sensitivity. In addition, we extracted the microwave frequency with a two-qubit system, which consists of a nitrogen-vacancy center and a nearby 13C^{13}\mathrm{C}13C nucleus. This approach enables the building of a wideband and potentially nanoscale microwave magnetometry to allow various potential applications, such as electronic circuits development.
We report on coplanar waveguides (CPWs) designed for optically detected magnetic resonance of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamonds. A broad band up to 15.8 GHz has been realized, which ensures that the electron spins can be manipulated under external magnetic fields up to 5000 G. The conversion factor of CPW has been measured by Rabi nutation experiments, which ranges from 6.64 G W−1/2 to 10.60 G W−1/2 in the frequency band from 0.76 GHz to 17.3 GHz. Broadband CPWs also provide high quality control pulses due to the minimization of the distortion. These characteristics will find potential applications in NV-based quantum information processing and single spin magnetometry.
Abstract Multiple-microwave-photon transition is a nonlinear process involving the simultaneous absorption of multiple microwave photons to reach a higher energy state. This phenomenon enables microwave frequency conversion, a crucial technique for spin-wave devices, frequency synthesizers and communication devices. However, it has not been observed in nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamonds, which serve as a key quantum platform linking flying qubits, microwave photons, and solid-state spins. In this work, we first observed multiple-microwave-photon transitions in NV centers in diamonds, using optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) methods with a single laser and microwave beam. We demonstrate that microwave frequencies, effective g-factor, and angular momentum exhibit a 1/n scaling law, but the linewidth exhibits a 1/n^2 scaling law for n-photon transitions between the ground states. Additionally, we detect the hyperfine structure of the ground states and achieve coherent spin manipulation under multi-photon excitation. Our findings offer a novel approach for the precise manipulation of NV center spin states, advancing quantum sensing and quantum information.
Ensembles of nitrogen-vacancy color centers in diamond hold promise for ultra-precise magnetometry, competing with superconducting quantum interference device detectors. By utilizing the advantages of dielectric materials, such as very low losses for electromagnetic field, with the potential for creating high Q -factor resonators with strong concentration of the field within it, we implemented a dielectric resonator antenna for coherent manipulation of a large ensemble of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond. We reached average Rabi frequency of 10 MHz in a volume of 7 mm 3 with a standard deviation of less than 1% at a moderate pump power. The obtained result enables use of large volume low nitrogen-vacancy concentration diamond plates in modern nitrogen-vacancy magnetometers thus improving sensitivity via larger coherence time and higher optical detected magnetic resonance contrast.