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Optical hyperpolarization of nitrogen donor spins in bulk diamond

MetadataDetails
Publication Date2017-02-14
JournalPhysical review. B./Physical review. B
AuthorsM. Loretz, H. Takahashi, Takuya F. Segawa, J. M. Boss, Christian L. Degen
InstitutionsETH Zurich
Citations17

We report hyperpolarization of the electronic spins associated with\nsubstitutional nitrogen defects in bulk diamond crystal. Hyperpolarization is\nachieved by optical pumping of nitrogen vacancy centers followed by rapid cross\nrelaxation at the energy level matching condition in a 51 mT bias field. The\nmaximum observed donor spin polarization is 0.9 \% corresponding to an\nenhancement by 25 compared to the thermal Boltzmann polarization. A further\naccumulation of polarization is impeded by an anomalous optical saturation\neffect that we attribute to charge state conversion processes. Hyperpolarized\nnitrogen donors may form a useful resource for increasing the efficiency of\ndiamond-based dynamic nuclear polarization devices.\n