Torsten Gaebel

Observation of Coherent Oscillation of a Single Nuclear Spin and Realization of a Two-Qubit Conditional Quantum Gate

Rabi nutations of a single nuclear spin in a solid have been observed. The experiments were carried out on a single electron and a single 13C nuclear spin of a single nitrogen-vacancy defect center in diamond. The system was used for implementation of quantum logical NOT and a conditional two-qubit gate (CROT). Density matrix tomography of the CROT gate shows that the gate fidelity achieved in our experiments is up to 0.9, good enough to be used in quantum algorithms.

Multipartite entanglement among single spins in diamond.

Robust entanglement at room temperature is a necessary requirement for practical applications in quantum technology. We demonstrate the creation of bipartite- and tripartite-entangled quantum states in a small quantum register consisting of individual 13C nuclei in a diamond lattice. Individual nuclear spins are controlled via their hyperfine coupling to a single electron at a nitrogen-vacancy defect center. Quantum correlations are of high quality and persist on a millisecond time scale even at room temperature, which is adequate for sophisticated quantum operations.

Room-temperature coherent coupling of single spins in diamond

Coherent coupling between single quantum objects is at the very heart of modern quantum physics. When the coupling is strong enough to prevail over decoherence, it can be used to engineer quantum entangled states. Entangled states have attracted widespread attention because of applications to quantum computing and long-distance quantum communication. For such applications, solid-state hosts are preferred for scalability reasons, and spins are the preferred quantum system in solids because they offer long coherence times. Here we show that a single pair of strongly coupled spins in diamond, associated with a nitrogen-vacancy defect and a nitrogen atom, respectively, can be optically initialized and read out at room temperature. To effect this strong coupling, close proximity of the two spins is required, but large distances from other spins are needed to avoid deleterious decoherence. These requirements were reconciled by implanting molecular nitrogen into high-purity diamond.

Observation and control of blinking nitrogen-vacancy centres in discrete nanodiamonds

Nitrogen-vacancy colour centres in diamond can undergo strong, spin-sensitive optical transitions under ambient conditions, which makes them attractive for applications in quantum optics, nanoscale magnetometry and biolabelling. Although nitrogen-vacancy centres have been observed in aggregated detonation nanodiamonds and milled nanodiamonds, they have not been observed in very small isolated nanodiamonds. Here, we report the first direct observation of nitrogen-vacancy centres in discrete 5-nm nanodiamonds at room temperature, including evidence for intermittency in the luminescence (blinking) from the nanodiamonds. We also show that it is possible to control this blinking by modifying the surface of the nanodiamonds.

Generation of single color centers by focused nitrogen implantation

Single defect centers in diamond have been generated via nitrogen implantation. The defects have been investigated by single defect center fluorescence microscopy. Optical and electron paramagnetic resonance spectra unambiguously show that the produced defect is the nitrogen-vacancy color center. An analysis of the nitrogen flux together with a determination of the number of nitrogen-vacancy centers yields that on average one 2MeV nitrogen atom need to be implanted per defect center.

Stable single-photon source in the near infrared

Owing to their unsurpassed photostability, defects in solids may be ideal candidates for single-photon sources. Here we report on generation of single photons by optical excitation of a yet unexplored defect in diamond, the nickel?nitrogen complex (NE8) centre. The most striking feature of the defect is its emission bandwidth of 1.2?nm at room temperature. The emission wavelength of the defect is around 800?nm, which is suitable for telecom fibres. In addition, in this spectral region little background light from the diamond bulk material is detected. Consequently, a high contrast in antibunching measurements is achieved.

Stark Shift Control of Single Optical Centers in Diamond

Lifetime-limited optical excitation lines of single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) defect centers in diamond have been observed at liquid helium temperature. They display unprecedented spectral stability over many seconds and excitation cycles. Spectral tuning of the spin-selective optical resonances was performed via the application of an external electric field (i.e., the Stark shift). A rich variety of Stark shifts were observed including linear as well as quadratic components. The ability to tune the excitation lines of single NV centers has potential applications in quantum information processing.

Implantation of labelled single nitrogen vacancy centers in diamond using N15

Nitrogen-vacancy (NV−) color centers in diamond were created by implantation of 7 keV N15(I=1∕2) ions into type IIa diamond. Optically detected magnetic resonance was employed to measure the hyperfine coupling of single NV− centers. The hyperfine spectrum from NV−15 arising from implanted N15 can be distinguished from NV−14 centers created by native N14(I=1) sites. Analysis indicates 1 in 40 implanted N15 atoms give rise to an optically observable NV−15 center. This report ultimately demonstrates a mechanism by which the yield of NV− center formation by nitrogen implantation can be measured.

Fabrication of single nickel-nitrogen defects in diamond by chemical vapor deposition

Fabrication of single nickel-nitrogen (NE8) defect centers in diamond by chemical vapor deposition is demonstrated. Under continuous-wave 745nm laser excitation single defects were induced to emit single photon pulses at 797nm with a linewidth of 1.5nm at room temperature. Photon antibunching of single centers was demonstrated using a Hanbury–Brown and Twiss interferometer. Confocal images revealed approximately 106 optically active sites∕cm2 in the synthesized films. The controlled fabrication of an NE8 based single photon source in synthetic diamond is important for fiber based quantum cryptography, and potentially linear optics quantum computing.

Spin-flip and spin-conserving optical transitions of the nitrogen-vacancy centre in diamond

We map out the first excited state sublevel structure of single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) colour centres in diamond. The excited state is an orbital doublet where one branch supports an efficient cycling transition, while the other can simultaneously support fully allowed optical Raman spin-flip transitions. This is crucial for the success of many recently proposed quantum information applications of the NV defects. We further find that an external electric field can be used to completely control the optical properties of a single centre. Finally, a group theoretical model is developed that explains the observations and provides good physical understanding of the excited state structure.