Dynamic polarization of single nuclear spins by optical pumping of NV color centers in diamond at room temperature

TL;DR

This paper introduces a room-temperature optical pumping method to polarize single nuclear spins in diamond with over 98% efficiency, enabling advanced quantum register control.

Contribution

It presents a novel technique for highly efficient nuclear spin polarization in diamond using optical pumping of NV centers at room temperature.

Findings

Achieved >98% polarization of 15N nuclear spins.

Demonstrated deterministic initialization of two nearby nuclear spins.

Enabled robust control for quantum register scaling.

Abstract

We report a versatile method to efficiently polarize single nuclear spins in diamond, which is based on optical pumping of a single NV color center and mediated by a level-anti crossing in its excited state. A nuclear spin polarization higher than 98% is achieved at room temperature for the 15N nuclear spin associated to the NV center, corresponding to $\mu$K effective nuclear spin temperature. We then show simultaneous deterministic initialization of two nuclear spins (13C and 15N) in close vicinity to a NV defect. Such robust control of nuclear spin states is a key ingredient for further scaling up of nuclear-spin based quantum registers in diamond.