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Quantum computing

Snapshots of diamond spins

Nature Physics volume 7, pages 929–930 (2011)Cite this article

Defects in diamond crystals possess rare physical properties that can enable new forms of technology. Unlocking this potential requires rapid quantum-state measurement, a 'quantum snapshot', which has now been achieved.

In diamond, a nitrogen impurity and a vacancy — that is, an absent carbon atom — bind together and trap an additional electron to form the NV centre. It possesses an electron spin coupled to one or more nuclear spins (certainly one of nitrogen, as well as various carbon-13 spins). Having a number of nearby nuclear spins with well-resolved couplings to the electron spin creates a versatile quantum register of multiple interacting qubits (although the couplings to more distant carbon-13 spins become unresolved and contribute instead to line-broadening). NV centres in diamond are particularly exciting because it is possible to measure the electron spin of a single NV through optical methods3. This method involves crudely exciting the NV with an indiscriminate optical pulse, and using the fact that the emitted fluorescence intensity has some dependence on the electron-spin state. Although this highly successful technique has underpinned an explosion in research into NV centres, it requires substantial averaging of many experimental runs (or 'shots') to determine the electron-spin state. Achieving fast, high-fidelity measurements requires new approaches to single-spin measurement using NV centres.

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Figure 1: Today, as in 1877 when Eadweard Muybridge photographed a horse in motion, it is crucial to be able to perform measurements that are fast on the timescale of the natural dynamics of an object.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. John J. L. Morton and Simon C. Benjamin are in the Department of Materials, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3PH, UK,

    John J. L. Morton & Simon C. Benjamin

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  1. John J. L. Morton
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  2. Simon C. Benjamin
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Correspondence to John J. L. Morton or Simon C. Benjamin.

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Morton, J., Benjamin, S. Snapshots of diamond spins. Nature Phys 7, 929–930 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2148

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