Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Applied Physics Letters

Fast photophysical processes of a single NV center modulated by the near-infrared laser pulse

Yujing Cao, Yan Liu, Junjie Lin, Mengting He, Xinrui Yuan, Botao Wu, E Wu

Published Apr 1, 2025• 5 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The photophysics of the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond has been extensively investigated. Especially the fast optical switch based on the NV centers' photoluminescence (PL) by the near-infrared laser (NIR) modulation has been demonstrated, but the photophysical processes behind it are still not fully understood. Here, the NIR modulation on the PL of an isolated single NV center in bulk diamond is probed and detected with precision at picosecond timescale. We thereby observe NIR optical excitation at the NV ground state as well as at the excited state. Meanwhile, a generalized model is constructed with additional energy levels that can be reached under NIR illumination. The transition rates from numerical simulations are demonstrated in good agreement with the experimental results. Our findings may provide insights into the understanding of the NV center's related photophysics and open intriguing prospects such as reversible optical switching, super-resolution microscopy, and so forth.

DOI
10.1063/5.0254845

Related papers

Charge state dynamics of the nitrogen vacancy center in diamond under 1064-nm laser excitation

Peng Ji, M. V. Gurudev Dutt

The photophysics and charge state dynamics of the nitrogen vacancy (NV) center in diamond has been extensively investigated, but is still not fully understood. In contrast to previous work, we find that ${\mathrm{NV}}^{0}$ converts to ${\mathrm{NV}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ under excitation with low power near-infrared (1064-nm) light, resulting in increased photoluminescence from the ${\mathrm{NV}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ state. We used a combination of spectral and time-resolved photoluminescence experiments and rate-equation modeling to conclude that ${\mathrm{NV}}^{0}$ converts to ${\mathrm{NV}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ via absorption of 1064-nm photons from the valence band of diamond. We report fast quenching and recovery of the photoluminescence from both charge states of the NV center under low power 1064-nm laser excitation, which has not been previously observed. We also find, using optically detected magnetic resonance experiments, that the charge transfer process mediated by the 1064-nm laser is spin dependent.

arXiv:1603.08066•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•Jul 5, 2016•56 citations

Fluorescence modulation of the nitrogen-vacancy center with competition between charge-state conversion and stimulated emission

Bo Du, Xiang-Dong Chen, Shao-Chun Zhang +4 more

The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond has been widely used for quantum information processing, nanophotonics, and biological imaging. In this work, we experimentally studied the charge-state conversion and stimulated emission of the NV center with a near-infrared (NIR) pumping laser. The competition between these two processes resulted in a nonmonotonic dependence of the NV center’s fluorescence intensity on the NIR laser power. Fluorescence enhancement was observed with a weak NIR laser, while fluorescence depletion was observed with a high-power NIR laser. It led to the nonmonotonic change of the spatial resolution with stimulated emission depletion microscopy, which has been used for subdiffraction imaging of the NV center. Our work can help to further understand the optical mechanism and extend the applications of the NV center.

Journal of the Optical Society of America B•Mar 26, 2020•9 citations

Charge-state dynamics during excitation and depletion of the nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond

Luke R. P. Hacquebard, Lilian Childress

The charge-state dynamics of the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond play a key role in a wide range of applications, yet remain imperfectly understood. Using single picosecond pulses and pulse pairs, we quantitatively investigate the charge dynamics associated with excitation and fluorescence depletion of a single NV center. Our pulsed excitation approach permits significant modeling simplifications and allows us to extract relative rates of excitation, stimulated emission, ionization, and recombination under 531 and 766 nm illumination. By varying the duration between paired pulses, we can also investigate ionization and recombination out of metastable states. Our results are directly applicable to experiments employing stimulated emission-depletion imaging and can be used to predict optimal operating regimes where excitation and stimulated emission are maximized relative to charge-state-switching processes.

arXiv:1806.09191•Physical Review A•Jun 13, 2018•62 citations

Photophysics of single nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond nanocrystals

Martin Berthel, Oriane Mollet, Géraldine Dantelle +3 more

A study of the photophysical properties of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color centers in diamond nanocrystals of size 50 nm or below is carried out by means of second-order time-intensity photon correlation and cross-correlation measurements as a function of the excitation power for both pure charge states, neutral and negatively charged, as well as for the photochromic state, where the center switches between both states at any power. A dedicated three-level model implying a shelving level is developed to extract the relevant photophysical parameters coupling all three levels. Our analysis confirms the very existence of the shelving level for the neutral NV center. It is found that it plays a negligible role on the photophysics of this center, whereas it is responsible for an increasing photon bunching behavior of the negative NV center with increasing power. From the photophysical parameters, we infer a quantum efficiency for both centers, showing that it remains close to unity for the neutral center over the entire power range, whereas it drops with increasing power from near unity to approximately 0.5 for the negative center. The photophysics of the photochromic center reveals a rich phenomenology that is to a large extent dominated by that of the negative state, in agreement with the excess charge release of the negative center being much slower than the photon emission process.

arXiv:1501.03714•Physical Review B•Jan 14, 2015•99 citations

Negative charge enhancement of near-surface nitrogen vacancy centers by multicolor excitation

Idan Meirzada, Yonatan Hovav, Sigal A. Wolf +1 more

Nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in diamond have been identified over the past few years as promising systems for a variety of applications, ranging from quantum information science to magnetic sensing. This relies on the unique optical and spin properties of the negatively charged NV. Many of these applications require shallow NV centers, i.e., NVs that are close (a few nm) to the diamond surface. In recent years there has been increasing interest in understanding the spin and charge dynamics of NV centers under various illumination conditions, specifically under infrared (IR) excitation, which has been demonstrated to have significant impact on the NV centers' emission and charge state. Nevertheless, a full understanding of all experimental data is still lacking, with further complications arising from potential differences between the photodynamics of bulk and shallow NVs. Here we suggest a generalized quantitative model for NV center spin- and charge-state dynamics under both green and IR excitation. We experimentally extract the relevant transition rates, providing a comprehensive model which reconciles all existing experimental results in the literature, except for highly nonlinear regimes. Moreover, we identify key differences between the photodynamics of bulk and shallow NVs, and use them to significantly enhance the initialization fidelity of shallow NVs to the useful negatively charged state.

arXiv:1709.04776•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•Dec 11, 2018•47 citations

Nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond: discovery of additional electronic states

Minh Tuan Luu, Ali Tayefeh Younesi, Ronald Ulbricht

Abstract Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) defect centers in diamond are key to applications in quantum sensing and quantum computing. They create localized electronic states in the diamond lattice with distinct population relaxation pathways following photoexcitation that ultimately enable its unique properties. The defect is known to exist in two charge states: neutral and negative, with respectively one and two known optically-active electronic transitions. Here, we report on the observation of a large number of hitherto undiscovered excited electronic states in both charge states as evidenced by distinct optical transitions in the infrared to ultraviolet part of the spectrum. These transitions are observed by monitoring the electronic relaxation of NV centers after photoexcitation using transient absorption spectroscopy, directly probing transient phenomena occurring on timescales from femtoseconds to microseconds. We also for the first time probed the electron transfer dynamics from the 3 E state of NV− to nearby single-substitutional nitrogen defects (N s ) that leads to the well-known effect of NV photoluminescence quenching.

Materials for Quantum Technology•Jul 10, 2024•16 citations
The photophysics of the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond has been extensively investigated. Especially the fast optical switch based on the NV centers' photoluminescence (PL) by the near-infrared laser (NIR) modulation has been demonstrated, but the photophysical processes behind it are still not fully understood. Here, the NIR modulation on the PL of an isolated single NV center in bulk diamond is probed and detected with precision at picosecond timescale. We thereby observe NIR optical excitation at the NV ground state as well as at the excited state. Meanwhile, a generalized model is constructed with additional energy levels that can be reached under NIR illumination. The transition rates from numerical simulations are demonstrated in good agreement with the experimental results. Our findings may provide insights into the understanding of the NV center's related photophysics and open intriguing prospects such as reversible optical switching, super-resolution microscopy, and so forth.
The photophysics and charge state dynamics of the nitrogen vacancy (NV) center in diamond has been extensively investigated, but is still not fully understood. In contrast to previous work, we find that NV0{\mathrm{NV}}^{0}NV0 converts to ${\mathrm{NV}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ under excitation with low power near-infrared (1064-nm) light, resulting in increased photoluminescence from the ${\mathrm{NV}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ state. We used a combination of spectral and time-resolved photoluminescence experiments and rate-equation modeling to conclude that NV0{\mathrm{NV}}^{0}NV0 converts to ${\mathrm{NV}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ via absorption of 1064-nm photons from the valence band of diamond. We report fast quenching and recovery of the photoluminescence from both charge states of the NV center under low power 1064-nm laser excitation, which has not been previously observed. We also find, using optically detected magnetic resonance experiments, that the charge transfer process mediated by the 1064-nm laser is spin dependent.
The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond has been widely used for quantum information processing, nanophotonics, and biological imaging. In this work, we experimentally studied the charge-state conversion and stimulated emission of the NV center with a near-infrared (NIR) pumping laser. The competition between these two processes resulted in a nonmonotonic dependence of the NV center’s fluorescence intensity on the NIR laser power. Fluorescence enhancement was observed with a weak NIR laser, while fluorescence depletion was observed with a high-power NIR laser. It led to the nonmonotonic change of the spatial resolution with stimulated emission depletion microscopy, which has been used for subdiffraction imaging of the NV center. Our work can help to further understand the optical mechanism and extend the applications of the NV center.
The charge-state dynamics of the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond play a key role in a wide range of applications, yet remain imperfectly understood. Using single picosecond pulses and pulse pairs, we quantitatively investigate the charge dynamics associated with excitation and fluorescence depletion of a single NV center. Our pulsed excitation approach permits significant modeling simplifications and allows us to extract relative rates of excitation, stimulated emission, ionization, and recombination under 531 and 766 nm illumination. By varying the duration between paired pulses, we can also investigate ionization and recombination out of metastable states. Our results are directly applicable to experiments employing stimulated emission-depletion imaging and can be used to predict optimal operating regimes where excitation and stimulated emission are maximized relative to charge-state-switching processes.
A study of the photophysical properties of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color centers in diamond nanocrystals of size 50 nm or below is carried out by means of second-order time-intensity photon correlation and cross-correlation measurements as a function of the excitation power for both pure charge states, neutral and negatively charged, as well as for the photochromic state, where the center switches between both states at any power. A dedicated three-level model implying a shelving level is developed to extract the relevant photophysical parameters coupling all three levels. Our analysis confirms the very existence of the shelving level for the neutral NV center. It is found that it plays a negligible role on the photophysics of this center, whereas it is responsible for an increasing photon bunching behavior of the negative NV center with increasing power. From the photophysical parameters, we infer a quantum efficiency for both centers, showing that it remains close to unity for the neutral center over the entire power range, whereas it drops with increasing power from near unity to approximately 0.5 for the negative center. The photophysics of the photochromic center reveals a rich phenomenology that is to a large extent dominated by that of the negative state, in agreement with the excess charge release of the negative center being much slower than the photon emission process.
Nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in diamond have been identified over the past few years as promising systems for a variety of applications, ranging from quantum information science to magnetic sensing. This relies on the unique optical and spin properties of the negatively charged NV. Many of these applications require shallow NV centers, i.e., NVs that are close (a few nm) to the diamond surface. In recent years there has been increasing interest in understanding the spin and charge dynamics of NV centers under various illumination conditions, specifically under infrared (IR) excitation, which has been demonstrated to have significant impact on the NV centers' emission and charge state. Nevertheless, a full understanding of all experimental data is still lacking, with further complications arising from potential differences between the photodynamics of bulk and shallow NVs. Here we suggest a generalized quantitative model for NV center spin- and charge-state dynamics under both green and IR excitation. We experimentally extract the relevant transition rates, providing a comprehensive model which reconciles all existing experimental results in the literature, except for highly nonlinear regimes. Moreover, we identify key differences between the photodynamics of bulk and shallow NVs, and use them to significantly enhance the initialization fidelity of shallow NVs to the useful negatively charged state.
Abstract Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) defect centers in diamond are key to applications in quantum sensing and quantum computing. They create localized electronic states in the diamond lattice with distinct population relaxation pathways following photoexcitation that ultimately enable its unique properties. The defect is known to exist in two charge states: neutral and negative, with respectively one and two known optically-active electronic transitions. Here, we report on the observation of a large number of hitherto undiscovered excited electronic states in both charge states as evidenced by distinct optical transitions in the infrared to ultraviolet part of the spectrum. These transitions are observed by monitoring the electronic relaxation of NV centers after photoexcitation using transient absorption spectroscopy, directly probing transient phenomena occurring on timescales from femtoseconds to microseconds. We also for the first time probed the electron transfer dynamics from the 3 E state of NV− to nearby single-substitutional nitrogen defects (N s ) that leads to the well-known effect of NV photoluminescence quenching.