Theory of neutral nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond and its qubit application
Abstract
The negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy defect (NV)- in diamond has attracted much attention in recent years in qubit and biological applications. The negative charge is donated from nearby nitrogen donors that could limit or stem the successful application of (NV)-. In this Letter, we unambiguously identify the neutral nitrogen-vacancy defect (NV0) by ab initio supercell calculations. Our analysis shows that i) the spin state can be selectively occupied optically, ii) the electron spin state can be manipulated by time-varying magnetic field, and iii) the spin state may be read out optically. Based on this NV0 is a new hope for realizing qubit in diamond without the need of nitrogen donors.
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