金刚石固态量子计算中的高分辨率成像

20世纪90年代中期,随着Shor算法和Grover算法的提出,量子计算领域得到广泛关注.金刚石固态NV色心方案作为量子计算机热门物理实现方案之一,因其在室温下的超长相干时间和可精确操控等独特优势而备受青睐;此外,NV色心还有望通过磁共振成像方式实现单核自旋探测.然而NV色心固态量子计算的一种扩展方式受限于相邻NV色心之间的磁偶极相互作用,要求两个NV色心之间相距只有数十纳米.这一尺度远小于普通远场光学的分辨率,即光学衍射极限,采用传统的共聚焦方法已无法分辨.受激发射损耗(STED)和基态损耗(GSD)等超分辨成像技术能够突破光学衍射极限限制,达到纳米量级的分辨率;同时结合最新的金刚石表面微纳刻蚀技术,可实现NV色心固态量子计算中不同色心的分辨和精确定位.该文从固态金刚石NV色心体系和光学衍射等主要方面对利用STED和GSD高分辨成像技术提高传统共聚焦显微镜对NV色心体系成像分辨率进行简要的介绍,并结合实例介绍一些最新的研究进展.     

基于金刚石氮-空位色心的温度传感

在各种物理量中,温度是最直观和最普遍的量.温度的剧烈变化通常意味着物体的物理性质出现波动,因此在各个领域中温度往往是重要的指标.随着科学技术的发展,许多领域研究和应用的尺度越来越小,然而在小于10μm的空间尺度内还没有通用的温度测量方法.除了空间分辨率的要求,传感器在测量过程中不应该对被测对象有巨大影响,金刚石氮-空位(nitrogen vacancy, NV)色心是一种稳定的发光缺陷,通过对其能谱和电子自旋量子态的测量,可以获得其附近温度、电磁场等物理量的信息.由于金刚石的化学特性稳定和热导率高,可以进行纳米尺度的非破坏性测量.它对细胞无毒,也可以用于生命领域的研究.此外,根据金刚石的特性, NV色心可以与光纤、扫描显微镜等技术结合,实现不同场景中的温度测量.本文将介绍金刚石NV色心的温度特性、测温原理及其在相关领域的应用.     

金刚石氮-空位色心单电子自旋的电场驱动相干控制

金刚石氮-空位(nitrogen-vacancy,NV)色心量子体系因在室温条件下具有可实现单自旋寻址与操控、长量子相干时间等独特优势,在固态量子计算、量子精密测量等领域展现了巨大的应用潜力,其中单自旋的精确操控技术对于NV色心应用的发展尤为关键.NV色心量子体系中常用的自旋操控方法都是通过共振的交变磁场来驱动和操控NV色心电子自旋.本文开展了利用交变电场对NV色心电子自旋进行调控的技术研究.通过电极所产生的交变电场成功驱动了NV色心自旋在|ms=-1>与|ms=+1>两个△ms=±2的磁禁戒能级间的跃迁,并观测到受控自旋在相关能级的布居度周期性变化而展现出的Rabi振荡现象.进一步的研究表明,电场驱动Rabi振荡的频率受驱动电场功率的调控,与驱动电场的共振频率无直接关系.将自旋电控制技术与磁控制技术方法相结合,能够实现对NV色心3个自旋能级间直接跃迁的全操控.自旋电控制技术的发展将进一步推动NV色心量子体系在量子模拟、量子计算、电磁场的精密测量等领域研究和应用的发展.     

固态单自旋量子控制研究进展

在量子物理领域的研究中,量子控制是必不可少的.精确高效的量子控制,是利用量子系统进行实验研究的前提,也是量子计算、量子传感等应用的基础.金刚石氮-空位色心作为固态自旋体系在室温下相干时间长,可用光学方法实现初始化和读出,通过微波射频场能实现普适的量子控制,是研究量子物理的优秀实验平台.本文从量子控制出发介绍金刚石氮-空位色心体系在量子物理领域取得的代表性成果,主要讨论了1)金刚石氮-空位色心的物理性质和量子控制原理, 2)氮-空位色心的退相干机制, 3)单自旋量子控制的相关应用及最近的研究进展.     

金刚石纳米颗粒中氮空位色心的电子自旋研究

通过电子注入的方法制备了含氮空位色心单光子源的金刚石荧光纳米颗粒. 自旋回声测试结果表明, 纳米颗粒中氮空位色心的相干时间T₂很短, 介于0.86 μs至5.6 μs之间. Ramsey干涉条纹测试结果表明, 氮空位色心NV1点的退相干时间T₂^* 最大, 为0.7 μs, 其电子自旋共振谱可分辨的最小线宽为1.05 MHz. 并且NV1点的电子自旋共振谱可分辨氮空位色心本身的¹⁴N核自旋与 氮空位色心电子自旋之间的2.2 MHz超精细相互作用, 这对于在金刚石纳米颗粒中实现核自旋的操控和多个量子比特的门操作具有重要意义. 关键词： 纳米颗粒 氮空位色心 电子自旋     

基于金刚石量子传感的纳米磁成像及凝聚态物理应用

作为凝聚态物理的重要方向,磁性的研究不仅是发展自旋电子学器件的基础,也是突破已有材料和器件功能壁垒的关键之一。磁性材料的纳米分辨率成像对认识和理解物质微观性质至关重要。金刚石中的氮—空位(NV)色心是一种对磁信号敏感的原子缺陷,经过十余年的深入研究,其已经发展为兼具高灵敏度和高空间分辨率的磁量子传感器,能够以纳米分辨率对单层磁性材料进行成像。它作为一种广谱(DC-GHz)、高灵敏度(nT/Hz~(1/2))、高空间分辨率(～10 nm,理论极限～1 nm)的磁成像技术,可以对包括二维磁性材料、电流分布、电导率分布乃至单个电子自旋,少数个核自旋进行纳米磁成像。文章从NV色心微观结构和性质出发,介绍其作为量子传感进行磁信号探测和成像的原理;进一步从技术层面介绍谱仪的构成和探针制备;最后选取有代表性的工作,简要介绍NV扫描显微镜在各方面的应用。     

基于图像匹配加速算法的金刚石氮–空穴色心轴向识别

场矢量探测是量子精密测量的重要分支,在基础物理、生物医学、材料科学等领域,都有着广泛的应用。金刚石氮-空穴(Nitrogen-Vacancy Center)色心作为量子传感器,在室温下具有较长相干时间,可以实现纳米尺度的磁场探测。为了实现纳米分辨率的磁场重构,需要选取金刚石中三个不同轴向的NV色心作为磁场传感器。实验上能否快速和精确地获得NV色心的轴向信息直接决定着矢量磁场测量的精度和效率。本文利用角向偏振光束代替高斯光束激发NV色心获得其扫描荧光图像,结合卷积神经网络对NV色心的荧光图像进行识别,提出了一种基于图像匹配的NV色心拟合优化算法,在梯度下降算法上结合图像识别处理和匹配算法,优化了NV色心轴向信息的提取过程,提高了拟合的速度和准确率,进而增加了磁场矢量重构的效率。     

基于金刚石氮-空位色心自旋系综与超导量子电路混合系统的量子节点纠缠

量子纠缠是实现量子计算和量子通信的核心基础,本文提出了在金刚石氮-空位色心(NV centers)自旋系综与超导量子电路耦合的混合系统中实现两个分离量子节点之间纠缠的理论方案.在该混合系统中,把金刚石NV centers自旋系综和与之耦合的超导共面谐振器视为一个量子节点,两个量子节点之间通过一个空的超导共面谐振器连接.具有较长相干时间的NV centers自旋系综作为一个量子存储器,用于制备、存储和发送量子信息;易于外部操控的超导量子电路可执行量子逻辑门操作,快速调控量子信息.为了实现两个分离量子节点之间的纠缠,首先对系统的哈密顿量进行正则变换,将其等价为两个NV centers自旋系综与同一个超导共面谐振器之间的JC耦合;然后采用NV centers自旋-光子混合比特编码的方式,通过调节超导共面谐振器的谐振频率,精确控制体系演化时间,高保真度地实现了两个分离量子节点之间的量子纠缠.本方案还可以进一步扩展和集成,用于构建多节点纠缠的分布式量子网络.     

基于金刚石氮-空位色心的精密磁测量

磁是一种重要的物理现象,对其进行精密测量推动了许多科技领域的发展.各类测磁技术,包括霍尔传感器、超导量子干涉仪、自旋磁共振等,都致力于提升空间分辨率和灵敏度.近年来,金刚石中的氮-空位色心广受关注.这一固态单自旋体系具有许多优点,例如易于初始化和读出、可操控、具有较长相干时间等,这使得它不仅在量子信息、量子计算等领域崭露头角,而且在量子精密测量上显现出巨大的应用前景.基于氮-空位色心,利用动力学解耦、关联谱等技术,已实现若干高灵敏度、高分辨率的微观磁共振实验,其中包括纳米尺度乃至单分子、单自旋的核磁共振和电子顺磁共振.氮-空位色心也可以用于微波和射频信号的精密测量.本文对围绕上述主题开展的一系列研究工作进行综述.     

基于金刚石NV色心的纳米尺度磁场测量和成像技术

纳米级分辨率的磁场测量和成像是磁学中的一种重要研究手段.金刚石中的单个氮-空位点缺陷电子自旋作为一种量子传感器,具有灵敏度高、原子级别尺寸、可工作在室温等诸多优势,灵敏度可以达到单核自旋级别,空间分辨率达到亚纳米.将这种磁测量技术与扫描成像技术结合,能够实现高灵敏度和高分辨率的磁场成像,定量地重构出杂散场.这种新型的磁成像技术可以给出磁学中多种重要的研究对象如磁畴壁、反铁磁序、磁性斯格明子的结构信息.随着技术的发展,基于氮-空位点缺陷的磁成像技术有望成为磁性材料研究的重要手段.     

Quantum information processing and metrology with color centers in diamonds

The Nitrogen Vacancy （NV） center is becoming a promising qubit for quantum information processing. The defect has a long coherence time at room temperature and it allows spin state initialized and read out by laser and manipulated by microwave pulses. It has been utilized as a ultra sensi- tive probe for magnetic fields and remote spins as well. Here, we review the recent progresses in experimental demonstrations based on NV centers. We first introduce our work on implementation of the Deutsch- Jozsa algorithm with a single electronic spin in diamond. Then the quantum nature of the bath around the center spin is revealed and continuous wave dynamical decoupling has been demonstrated. By applying dynamical decoupling, a multi-pass quantum metrology protocol is realized to enhance phase estimation. In the final, we demonstrated NV center can be regarded as a ultra-sensitive sensor spin to implement nuclear magnetic resonance （NMR） imaging at nanoscale.     

金刚石氮空位中心自旋量子调控

量子计算和量子传感近年来受到了广泛的关注.金刚石氮空位中心以其简单稳定的自旋能级结构、高效便捷的光学跃迁规则以及室温下超长的自旋量子态相干时间而成为量子信息科学中引人瞩目的新星.本文从实验研究的角度介绍金刚石氮空位中心自旋量子调控的基础理论、典型技术和代表性结果;重点讨论1)如何通过光磁共振方法在室温大气环境下对单个自旋进行探测和相干操控,2)金刚石中自旋量子比特退相干的主要机制和抑制手段,3)自旋态相干操控技术在量子传感中的应用;最后对氮空位中心在量子计算和量子传感中的发展趋势进行了小结.     

Proposed spin amplification for magnetic sensors employing crystal defects

Recently there have been several theoretical and experimental studies of the prospects for magnetic field sensors based on crystal defects, especially nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in diamond. Such systems could potentially be incorporated into an atomic force microscopy-like apparatus in order to map the magnetic properties of a surface at the single spin level. In this Letter we propose an augmented sensor consisting of an NV center for readout and an "amplifier" spin system that directly senses the local magnetic field. Our calculations show that this hybrid structure has the potential to detect magnetic moments with a sensitivity and spatial resolution far beyond that of a simple NV center, and indeed this may be the physical limit for sensors of this class.     

A novel demodulation method for transmission using nitrogen-vacancy-based solid-state quantum sensor

Diamond based quantum sensing is a fast-emerging field with both scientific and technological significance. The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center, a crystal defect in diamond, has become a unique object for microwave sensing applications due to its excellent stability, long spin coherence time, and optical properties at ambient condition. In this work, we use diamond NV center as atomic receiver to demodulate on-off keying (OOK) signal transmitted in broad frequency range (2 GHz-14 GHz in a portable benchtop setup). We proposed a unique algorithm of voltage discrimination and demonstrated audio signal transceiving with fidelity above 99%. This diamond receiver is attached to the end of a tapered fiber, having all optic nature, which will find important applications in data transmission tasks under extreme conditions such as strong electromagnetic interference, high temperatures, and high corrosion.     

Precise temperature sensing with nanoscale thermal sensors based on diamond NV centers

Sensing temperature with high precision and high spatial resolution is challenging and requires novel temperature measurement techniques. Recently, an atomic-scale thermal sensor based on a defect center in diamond, i.e., a nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center, has been developed, and successfully demonstrated temperature sensing at the mK level and a few tens of nanometers. Here we discuss a temperature sensing mechanism based on the NV center in both experimental and theoretical aspects. At room temperature, we show temperature sensing over a wide-range of temperatures ∼90 K with a precision of 0.2 K. We also map temperature gradients in a bridge-like device a few hundreds of micrometers long. In addition, we theoretically compare three sensing protocols and analyze temperature sensitivity to find optimal measurement time and NV concentration for the ensemble measurement.     

Online optimization for optical readout of a single electron spin in diamond

The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond has been developed as a promising platform for quantum sensing, especially for magnetic field measurements in the nano-tesla range with a nano-meter resolution. Optical spin readout performance has a direct effect on the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of experiments. In this work, we introduce an online optimization method to customize the laser waveform for readout. Both simulations and experiments reveal that our new scheme optimizes the optically detected magnetic resonance in NV center. The SNR of optical spin readout has been witnessed a 44.1% increase in experiments. In addition, we applied the scheme to the Rabi oscillation experiment, which shows an improvement of 46.0% in contrast and a reduction of 12.1% in mean deviation compared to traditional constant laser power SNR optimization. This scheme is promising to improve sensitivities for a wide range of NV-based applications in the future.     

Dark states of single nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond unraveled by single shot NMR

The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond is supposed to be a building block for quantum computing and nanometer-scale metrology at ambient conditions. Therefore, precise knowledge of its quantum states is crucial. Here, we experimentally show that under usual operating conditions the NV exists in an equilibrium of two charge states [70% in the expected negative (NV-) and 30% in the neutral one (NV0)]. Projective quantum nondemolition measurement of the nitrogen nuclear spin enables the detection even of the additional, optically inactive state. The nuclear spin can be coherently driven also in NV0 (T1≈90 ms and T2≈6 μs).