Coherent Control of a Long-Lived Nuclear Memory Spin in a Germanium-Vacancy Multi-Qubit Node

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates long-lived coherent control of a nuclear spin coupled to a germanium-vacancy center in diamond, achieving record coherence times and paving the way for quantum repeater applications.

Contribution

It reports the longest coherence time for a group-IV defect nuclear spin and provides detailed modeling and noise characterization of the system.

Findings

Coherence times beyond 2.5 seconds at mK temperatures.

Estimated achievable memory time of 18.1 seconds.

Detailed system dynamics modeling and noise analysis.

Abstract

The ability to process and store information on surrounding nuclear spins is a major requirement for group-IV color center-based repeater nodes. We demonstrate coherent control of a ${}^{13}$C nuclear spin strongly coupled to a negatively charged germanium-vacancy center in diamond with coherence times beyond 2.5s at mK temperatures, which is the longest reported for group-IV defects. Detailed analysis allows us to model the system's dynamics, extract the coupling parameters, and characterize noise. We estimate an achievable memory time of 18.1s with heating limitations considered, paving the way to successful applications as a quantum repeater node.