Characterizing the magnetic noise power spectrum of dark spins in diamond

The coherence times of solid-state spin qubits are often limited by the presence of a spin bath. Characterizing the spectrum of the local magnetic field fluctuations of the bath is key to understanding spin qubit decoherence. Here we use pulsed electron paramagnetic resonance (pEPR) based noise spec...

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Main Authors: Ethan Q Williams, Chandrasekhar Ramanathan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2025-01-01
Series:New Journal of Physics
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/adb2b8
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author Ethan Q Williams
Chandrasekhar Ramanathan
author_facet Ethan Q Williams
Chandrasekhar Ramanathan
author_sort Ethan Q Williams
collection DOAJ
description The coherence times of solid-state spin qubits are often limited by the presence of a spin bath. Characterizing the spectrum of the local magnetic field fluctuations of the bath is key to understanding spin qubit decoherence. Here we use pulsed electron paramagnetic resonance (pEPR) based noise spectroscopy to measure the magnetic noise power spectra for ensembles of substitutional nitrogen (P1) centers in diamond that typically form the bath for nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers. The Carr–Purcell–Meiboom–Gill (CPMG) dynamical decoupling experiments on the P1 centers were performed on a low [N] chemical vapor deposition (CVD) sample and a high [N] high-temperature, high-pressure (HPHT) sample at 89 mT. We characterize the NV centers of the latter sample using the same 2.5 GHz pEPR spectrometer. All power spectra show two distinct features, a broad component that is observed to scale as approximately $1/\omega^{0.7-1.0}$ , and a prominent peak at the ^13 C Larmor frequency. The behavior of the broad component is consistent with an inhomogeneous distribution of Lorentzian spectra due to clustering of P1 centers, which has recently been shown to be prevalent in HPHT diamond. We develop techniques utilizing harmonics of the CPMG filter function to improve characterization of high-frequency signals, which we demonstrate on the ^13 C nuclear Larmor frequency. At 190 mT this is 2.04 MHz, 5.7 times higher than the CPMG modulation frequency ( ${\lt}357$ kHz, hardware-limited). Understanding the properties of the bath allow us to either exploit it as a quantum resource or optimize decoupling performance, while also informing sample fabrication technologies. The techniques are applicable to ac magnetometry for nanoscale nuclear magnetic resonance and chemical sensing.
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spelling doaj-art-d3c5ff60ea974c098fd00ad1e22bf51d2025-08-20T02:00:51ZengIOP PublishingNew Journal of Physics1367-26302025-01-0127303300710.1088/1367-2630/adb2b8Characterizing the magnetic noise power spectrum of dark spins in diamondEthan Q Williams0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5672-5383Chandrasekhar Ramanathan1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7457-3608Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dartmouth College , Hanover, NH 03755, United States of AmericaDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, Dartmouth College , Hanover, NH 03755, United States of AmericaThe coherence times of solid-state spin qubits are often limited by the presence of a spin bath. Characterizing the spectrum of the local magnetic field fluctuations of the bath is key to understanding spin qubit decoherence. Here we use pulsed electron paramagnetic resonance (pEPR) based noise spectroscopy to measure the magnetic noise power spectra for ensembles of substitutional nitrogen (P1) centers in diamond that typically form the bath for nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers. The Carr–Purcell–Meiboom–Gill (CPMG) dynamical decoupling experiments on the P1 centers were performed on a low [N] chemical vapor deposition (CVD) sample and a high [N] high-temperature, high-pressure (HPHT) sample at 89 mT. We characterize the NV centers of the latter sample using the same 2.5 GHz pEPR spectrometer. All power spectra show two distinct features, a broad component that is observed to scale as approximately $1/\omega^{0.7-1.0}$ , and a prominent peak at the ^13 C Larmor frequency. The behavior of the broad component is consistent with an inhomogeneous distribution of Lorentzian spectra due to clustering of P1 centers, which has recently been shown to be prevalent in HPHT diamond. We develop techniques utilizing harmonics of the CPMG filter function to improve characterization of high-frequency signals, which we demonstrate on the ^13 C nuclear Larmor frequency. At 190 mT this is 2.04 MHz, 5.7 times higher than the CPMG modulation frequency ( ${\lt}357$ kHz, hardware-limited). Understanding the properties of the bath allow us to either exploit it as a quantum resource or optimize decoupling performance, while also informing sample fabrication technologies. The techniques are applicable to ac magnetometry for nanoscale nuclear magnetic resonance and chemical sensing.https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/adb2b8diamondnitrogen vacancyP1electron spin paramagnetic resonancedynamical decouplingnoise spectroscopy
spellingShingle Ethan Q Williams
Chandrasekhar Ramanathan
Characterizing the magnetic noise power spectrum of dark spins in diamond
New Journal of Physics
diamond
nitrogen vacancy
P1
electron spin paramagnetic resonance
dynamical decoupling
noise spectroscopy
title Characterizing the magnetic noise power spectrum of dark spins in diamond
title_full Characterizing the magnetic noise power spectrum of dark spins in diamond
title_fullStr Characterizing the magnetic noise power spectrum of dark spins in diamond
title_full_unstemmed Characterizing the magnetic noise power spectrum of dark spins in diamond
title_short Characterizing the magnetic noise power spectrum of dark spins in diamond
title_sort characterizing the magnetic noise power spectrum of dark spins in diamond
topic diamond
nitrogen vacancy
P1
electron spin paramagnetic resonance
dynamical decoupling
noise spectroscopy
url https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/adb2b8
work_keys_str_mv AT ethanqwilliams characterizingthemagneticnoisepowerspectrumofdarkspinsindiamond
AT chandrasekharramanathan characterizingthemagneticnoisepowerspectrumofdarkspinsindiamond