The room temperature compatibility of the negatively-charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV-) in diamond makes it the ideal quantum system for a university teaching lab. Here, we describe a low-cost experimental setup for coherent control experiments on the electronic spin state of the NV- center. We implement spin-relaxation measurements, optically-detected magnetic resonance, Rabi oscillations, and dynamical decoupling sequences on an ensemble of NV- centers. The relatively short times required to perform each of these experiments (<10 minutes) demonstrate the feasibility of the setup in a teaching lab. Learning outcomes include basic understanding of quantum spin systems, magnetic resonance, the rotating frame, Bloch spheres, and pulse sequence development.
@article{arxiv.2004.02643,
title = {Coherent control of NV- centers in diamond in a quantum teaching lab},
author = {Vikas K. Sewani and Hyma H. Vallabhapurapu and Yang Yang and Hannes R. Firgau and Chris Adambukulam and Brett C. Johnson and Jarryd J. Pla and Arne Laucht},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2004.02643},
year = {2020}
}