Postdoctoral Fellowship: MPS-Ascend: Controlling the spin and charge of color centers in diamond under cryogenic conditions

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Non-technical DescriptionDiamond is a remarkable material made only of carbon. Diamond is one of the hardest natural materials and, unlike many electrical insulators, it is a good conductor of heat. These properties have led to many industrial applications, such as an abrasive used in grinding, drilling, and cutting. Diamond also hosts a sensitive detector of magnetic and electric fields: the nitrogen vacancy (NV) center. NV centers can be used to sense magnetic objects and have potential for use as quantum bits (qubits) for quantum computing. Most work on NV centers in diamond has been done at room temperature under ambient conditions. Cryogenic conditions substantially alter its optical properties, creating new opportunities for control and readout of NV centers. In this MPS-Ascend project, the PI will use instrumentation developed during his doctoral work to investigate the interplay between the NV spin, optical, and electronic properties at low temperatures. The PI will integrate his research with educational activities that build on the PI’s experience as an educator, including mentorships of undergraduates and junior graduates as well as outreach activities in local high schools.Technical DescriptionCryogenic manipulation of NV centers has received relatively little attention in the context of sensing, due to complications deriving from the impact of local strain on the NV optical spectrum. The PI plans to carry out a systematic investigation that will shed light on the interplay between crystal strain and optical cyclicity. These studies will be enabled by a cryogenic microscope developed by the PI that has multi-color excitation capabilities. This instrumentation integrates magnetic resonance and atomic force microscopy capabilities that can be combined to implement NV scanning probe experiments. Activities will center on the narrow, spin-selective optical transitions NVs display in the cryogenic regime with two main goals: (i) develop enhanced forms of NV spin readout with emphasis on applications to sensing, and (ii) study the NV charge state dynamics under resonant optical excitation with an eye on sub-diffraction optical memories. The planned studies will also enable effective spin-to-charge conversion schemes as an alternative to attaining enhanced NV sensitivity.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.