Theory of the ground state spin of the NV- center in diamond: II. Spin solutions, time-evolution, relaxation and inhomogeneous dephasing

TL;DR

This paper develops a comprehensive theoretical model for the ground state spin of the NV- center in diamond, analyzing its interactions with electric, magnetic, and strain fields, and exploring its time-evolution, relaxation, and dephasing.

Contribution

It provides the first general solution for the spin's behavior under arbitrary field configurations, enabling precise control and understanding of NV- center applications.

Findings

Derived a general solution for spin dynamics in complex field environments

Analyzed how electric, magnetic, and strain fields influence spin evolution

Provided tools for improved quantum sensing and information processing with NV centers

Abstract

The ground state spin of the negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond has many exciting applications in quantum metrology and solid state quantum information processing, including magnetometry, electrometry, quantum memory and quantum optical networks. Each of these applications involve the interaction of the spin with some configuration of electric, magnetic and strain fields, however, to date there does not exist a detailed model of the spin's interactions with such fields, nor an understanding of how the fields influence the time-evolution of the spin and its relaxation and inhomogeneous dephasing. In this work, a general solution is obtained for the spin in any given electric-magnetic-strain field configuration for the first time, and the influence of the fields on the evolution of the spin is examined. Thus, this work provides the essential theoretical tools for the precise control and modeling of this remarkable spin in its current and future applications.