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Spin-strain interaction in nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond

MetadataDetails
Publication Date2018-08-02
JournalPhysical review. B./Physical review. B
AuthorsPéter Udvarhelyi, V. O. Shkolnikov, Ádåm Gali, Guido Burkard, Andrås Pålyi
InstitutionsHUN-REN Wigner Research Centre for Physics, Budapest University of Technology and Economics
Citations118

The interaction of solid-state electronic spins with deformations of their\nhost crystal is an important ingredient in many experiments realizing quantum\ninformation processing schemes. Here, we theoretically characterize that\ninteraction for a nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond. We derive the\nsymmetry-allowed Hamiltonian describing the interaction between the\nground-state spin-triplet electronic configuration and the local strain. We\nnumerically calculate the six coupling-strength parameters of the Hamiltonian\nusing density functional theory, and propose an experimental setup for\nmeasuring those coupling strengths. The importance of this interaction is\nhighlighted by the fact that it enables to drive spin transitions, both\nmagnetically allowed and forbidden, via mechanically or electrically driven\nspin resonance. This means that the ac magnetic field routinely used in a wide\nrange of spin-resonance experiments with NV centers could in principle be\nreplaced by ac strain or ac electric field, potentially offering lower power\nrequirements, simplified device layouts, faster spin control, and local\naddressability of electronic spin qubits.\n

  1. 1977 - Diamond Research (London)