Laser and Microwave Excitations of Rabi Oscillations of a Single Nitrogen-Vacancy Electron Spin in Diamond

Abstract

A collapse and revival shape of Rabi oscillations of a single Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) center electron spin has been observed in diamond at room temperature. Because of hyperfine interaction between the host 14N nuclear spin and NV center electron spin, different orientation of the 14N nuclear spin leads to a triplet splitting of the transition between the ground ms=0 and excited states ms=1. Microwave can excite the three transitions equally to induce three independent nutations and the shape of Rabi oscillations is a combination of the three nutations. This result provides an innovative view of electron spin oscillations in diamond.