Probing the Origins of Inhomogeneous Broadening in Nitrogen-Vacancy Centers with "Doppler-Free" Type Spectroscopy

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel pump-probe spectroscopy method inspired by Doppler-free techniques to investigate inhomogeneous broadening in nitrogen-vacancy centers, revealing local magnetic field variations as the primary cause.

Contribution

It presents a new spectroscopic approach to identify the physical origin of inhomogeneous broadening in NV centers, advancing understanding for technological improvements.

Findings

Inhomogeneous broadening is mainly due to local magnetic field variations.

The spectroscopy method effectively isolates broadening sources.

Results enhance control over NV center properties for quantum applications.

Abstract

In order to better understand the underlying fundamental physical processes in nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond, and to realize improvements in the use of this system for technological applications, it is imperative to gain new insight into the origins of the apparent inhomogeneous broadening. In this work we make use of a novel type of spectroscopy developed specifically for this task. The pump-probe spectroscopy closely follows Doppler-free spectroscopy used in atomic vapor. We show that the origin of inhomogeneous broadening comes from local magnetic field variations in the diamond lattice.