Gyroscopes based on nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond

TL;DR

This paper proposes solid-state gyroscopes using nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond, leveraging Berry phase shifts for rotation sensing, with projected sensitivities surpassing existing compact gyroscope technologies.

Contribution

It introduces a novel gyroscope design based on NV centers and Berry phase effects, with detailed sensitivity estimates and potential improvements over current technologies.

Findings

Projected sensitivity of 5×10^{-3} rad/s/√Hz with simple Ramsey sequence

Potential sensitivity improvement to 10^{-5} rad/s/√Hz with dynamical decoupling

Order of magnitude better sensitivity than existing compact gyroscopes

Abstract

We propose solid-state gyroscopes based on ensembles of negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (${\rm NV^-}$) centers in diamond. In one scheme, rotation of the nitrogen-vacancy symmetry axis will induce Berry phase shifts in the ${\rm NV^{-}}$ electronic ground-state coherences proportional to the solid angle subtended by the symmetry axis. We estimate sensitivity in the range of $5\times10^{-3} {\rm rad/s/\sqrt{Hz}}$ in a 1 ${\rm mm^3}$ sensor volume using a simple Ramsey sequence. Incorporating dynamical decoupling to suppress dipolar relaxation may yield sensitivity at the level of $10^{-5} {\rm rad/s/\sqrt{Hz}}$. With a modified Ramsey scheme, Berry phase shifts in the ${\rm ^{14}N}$ hyperfine sublevels would be employed. The projected sensitivity is in the range of $10^{-5} {\rm rad/s/\sqrt{Hz}}$, however the smaller gyromagnetic ratio reduces sensitivity to magnetic-field noise by several orders of magnitude. Reaching $10^{-5} {\rm rad/s/\sqrt{Hz}}$ would represent an order of magnitude improvement over other compact, solid-state gyroscope technologies.