Observation of the dynamic Jahn-Teller effect in the excited states of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond

TL;DR

This study investigates the dynamic Jahn-Teller effect in nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond, revealing its role as the main dephasing mechanism affecting optical transitions at low temperatures through temperature-dependent linewidth measurements.

Contribution

It provides the first direct experimental evidence of the dynamic Jahn-Teller effect influencing NV center optical properties at low temperatures.

Findings

Linewidth and relaxation follow a T^5 dependence up to 100 K.

Dynamic Jahn-Teller effect is identified as the dominant dephasing mechanism.

Optical transition properties are characterized from 5 K to room temperature.

Abstract

The optical transition linewidth and emission polarization of single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers are measured from 5 K to room temperature. Inter-excited state population relaxation is shown to broaden the zero-phonon line and both the relaxation and linewidth are found to follow a T^5 dependence for T up to 100 K. This dependence indicates that the dynamic Jahn-Teller effect is the dominant dephasing mechanism for the NV optical transitions at low temperatures.