Optically induced spin polarisation of the NV- centre in diamond: role of electron-vibration interaction

Abstract

The novel aspect of the centre (NV-) in diamond is the high degree of spin polarisation achieved through optical illumination. In this paper it is shown that the spin polarisation occurs as a consequence of an electron-vibration interaction combined with spin-orbit interaction, and an electronic model involving these interactions is developed to account for the observed polarisation.