All-optical initialization, readout, and coherent preparation of single silicon-vacancy spins in diamond

2014/10/06 by Lachlan J. Rogers, Kay D. Jahnke, Mathias H. Metsch +8 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #quant-ph #cond-mat.mtrl-sci #physics.optics

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.113.263602

published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 263602 (2014) · 9 pages, 8 figures

arxiv created 2014/10/06 · arxiv updated 2014/12/31

Abstract

The silicon-vacancy (SiV^-) color center in diamond has attracted attention due to its unique optical properties. It exhibits spectral stability and indistinguishability that facilitate efficient generation of photons capable of demonstrating quantum interference. Here we show high fidelity optical initialization and readout of electronic spin in a single SiV^- center with a spin relaxation time of T₁=2.4±0.2 ms. Coherent population trapping (CPT) is used to demonstrate coherent preparation of dark superposition states with a spin coherence time of T₂^⋆=35±3 ns. This is fundamentally limited by orbital relaxation, and an understanding of this process opens the way to extend coherences by engineering interactions with phonons. These results establish the SiV^- center as a solid-state spin-photon interface.

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