Low temperature studies of the excited-state structure of Nitrogen-Vacancy color centers in diamond

TL;DR

This paper investigates the excited-state structure of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond at low temperatures, combining experimental and theoretical approaches to enhance understanding for quantum information applications.

Contribution

The study provides a detailed experimental and theoretical analysis of the NV center's excited-state structure at cryogenic temperatures, revealing orbital averaging effects at room temperature.

Findings

Excellent agreement between theory and experiment

Orbital branches are averaged at room temperature

Enhanced understanding of NV electronic structure

Abstract

We report a study of the 3E excited-state structure of single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) defects in diamond, combining resonant excitation at cryogenic temperatures and optically detected magnetic resonance. A theoretical model of the excited-state structure is developed and shows excellent agreement with experimental observations. Besides, we show that the two orbital branches associated with the 3E excited-state are averaged when operating at room temperature. This study leads to an improved physical understanding of the NV defect electronic structure, which is invaluable for the development of diamond-based quantum information processing.