Temporal coherence of photons emitted by single nitrogen-vacancy defect centers in diamond using optical Rabi-oscillations.

Photon interference among distant quantum emitters is a promising method to generate large scale quantum networks. Interference is best achieved when photons show long coherence times. For the nitrogen-vacancy defect center in diamond we measure the coherence times of photons via optically induced Rabi oscillations. Experiments reveal a close to Fourier-transform (i.e., lifetime) limited width of photons emitted even when averaged over minutes. The projected contrast of two-photon interference (0.8) is high enough to envisage applications in quantum information processing. We report 12 and 7.8 ns excited state lifetimes depending on the spin state of the defect.

[1]  Neil B. Manson,et al.  Issues concerning the nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond , 2007 .

[2]  D. Matsukevich,et al.  Entanglement of single-atom quantum bits at a distance , 2007, Nature.

[3]  L. Jiang,et al.  Quantum Register Based on Individual Electronic and Nuclear Spin Qubits in Diamond , 2007, Science.

[4]  Philippe Grangier,et al.  Experimental Realization of Wheeler's Delayed-Choice Gedanken Experiment , 2006, Science.

[5]  C. Monroe,et al.  Quantum interference of photon pairs from two remote trapped atomic ions , 2006, quant-ph/0608047.

[6]  L. Childress,et al.  Supporting Online Material for , 2006 .

[7]  P. Hemmer,et al.  Stark shift control of single optical centers in diamond. , 2006, Physical review letters.

[8]  P. Hemmer,et al.  Coherent population trapping of single spins in diamond under optical excitation. , 2006, Physical review letters.

[9]  R. Hanson,et al.  Polarization and readout of coupled single spins in diamond. , 2006, Physical review letters.

[10]  P. Hemmer,et al.  Room-temperature coherent coupling of single spins in diamond , 2006, quant-ph/0605038.

[11]  Matthew Sellars,et al.  Measurement of the optically induced spin polarisation of N-V centres in diamond , 2006 .

[12]  H. Weinfurter,et al.  Observation of entanglement of a single photon with a trapped atom. , 2006, Physical review letters.

[13]  M. Lukin,et al.  Fault-tolerant quantum communication based on solid-state photon emitters. , 2004, Physical review letters.

[14]  S. Massar,et al.  Quantum information processing and communication , 2005 .

[15]  D. Awschalom,et al.  Anisotropic interactions of a single spin and dark-spin spectroscopy in diamond , 2005, cond-mat/0507706.

[16]  C. Bräuchle,et al.  Indistinguishable photons from a single molecule. , 2005, Physical review letters.

[17]  M. Lukin,et al.  Fault-tolerant quantum repeaters with minimal physical resources, and implementations based on single photon emitters , 2005, quant-ph/0502112.

[18]  P. Kok,et al.  Efficient high-fidelity quantum computation using matter qubits and linear optics , 2004, quant-ph/0408040.

[19]  C. Monroe,et al.  Observation of entanglement between a single trapped atom and a single photon , 2004, Nature.

[20]  F. Jelezko,et al.  Observation of coherent oscillations in a single electron spin. , 2004, Physical review letters.

[21]  F. Jelezko,et al.  Observation of coherent oscillation of a single nuclear spin and realization of a two-qubit conditional quantum gate. , 2004, Physical review letters.

[22]  I. Robert-Philip,et al.  Interference and correlation of two independent photons , 2003 .

[23]  Yoshihisa Yamamoto,et al.  Indistinguishable photons from a single-photon device , 2002, Nature.

[24]  Alexander P. Nizovtsev,et al.  Single spin states in a defect center resolved by optical spectroscopy , 2002 .

[25]  P. Grangier,et al.  Photon antibunching in the fluorescence of individual color centers in diamond. , 2000, Optics letters.

[26]  Mayer,et al.  Stable solid-state source of single photons , 2000, Physical review letters.

[27]  Talon,et al.  Photon antibunching in the fluorescence of a single dye molecule trapped in a solid. , 1992, Physical review letters.

[28]  A. T. Collins,et al.  Luminescence decay time of the 1.945 eV centre in type Ib diamond , 1983 .