Properties of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond: group theoretic approach

TL;DR

This paper uses group theory to analyze the properties of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond, providing insights into their electronic structure, interactions, and potential for quantum applications at low temperatures.

Contribution

It introduces a group theoretic framework to predict and clarify the electronic and spin properties of NV centers, applicable to various solid-state defects.

Findings

Clarifies the ordering of singlet states in NV centers

Analyzes spin-spin and spin-orbit interactions using group theory

Discusses optical and electric field responses for quantum applications

Abstract

We present a procedure that makes use of group theory to analyze and predict the main properties of the negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond. We focus on the relatively low temperatures limit where both the spin-spin and spin-orbit effects are important to consider. We demonstrate that group theory may be used to clarify several aspects of the NV structure, such as ordering of the singlets in the ($e^2$) electronic configuration, the spin-spin and the spin-orbit interactions in the ($ae$) electronic configuration. We also discuss how the optical selection rules and the response of the center to electric field can be used for spin-photon entanglement schemes. Our general formalism is applicable to a broad class of local defects in solids. The present results have important implications for applications in quantum information science and nanomagnetometry.