Electron spin decoherence of single Nitrogen-Vacancy defects in diamond

TL;DR

This paper provides a theoretical analysis of electron spin decoherence in single Nitrogen-Vacancy defects in diamond, highlighting the role of Carbon-13 nuclear spins and introducing a novel cluster-based modeling approach.

Contribution

It introduces a disjoint cluster algorithm to model spin interactions, revealing complex decoherence dynamics beyond simple exponential decay.

Findings

Demonstrates non-trivial electron spin dynamics due to nuclear spin interactions.

Shows substantial echo signals persist at microsecond timescales.

Results align well with recent experimental data.

Abstract

We present a theoretical analysis of the electron spin decoherence in single Nitrogen-Vacancy defects in ultra-pure diamond. The electron spin decoherence is due to the interactions with Carbon-13 nuclear spins in the diamond lattice. Our approach takes advantage of the low concentration (1.1%) of Carbon-13 and their random distribution in the diamond lattice by an algorithmic aggregation of spins into small, strongly interacting groups. By making use of this \emph{disjoint cluster} approach, we demonstrate a possibility of non-trival dynamics of the electron spin that can not be described by a single time constant. This dependance is caused by a strong coupling between the electron and few nuclei and results, in particular, in a substantial echo signal even at microsecond time scales. Our results are in good agreement with recent experimental observations.