Ambiguous resonances in multipulse quantum sensing with nitrogen-vacancy centers
L. Tsunaki1, A. Singh1, K. Volkova1, S. Trofimov1, T. Pregnolato2,3, T. Schröder2,3, and B. Naydenov1,4
Published in:
Phys. Rev. A, vol. 111, no. 2, art. 022606, doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.111.022606 (2025).
Abstract:
Dynamical decoupling multipulse sequences can be applied to solid-state spins for sensing weak oscillating fields from nearby single nuclear spins. By periodically reversing the probing system’s evolution, other noises are counteracted and filtered out over the total evolution. However, the technique is subject to intricate interactions resulting in additional resonant responses, which can be misinterpreted with the actual signal intended to be measured. We experimentally characterize three of these effects present in single nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond, where we also develop a numerical simulation model without rotating-wave approximation, showing robust correlation to the experimental data. Regarding centers with the 15 N nitrogen isotope, we observe that a small misalignment in the bias magnetic field causes the precession of the nitrogen nuclear spin to be sensed by the electronic spin of the center. Another studied case of ambiguous resonances comes from the coupling with lattice 13 C nuclei, where we use the echo modulation frequencies to obtain the interaction Hamiltonian and then utilize the latter to simulate multipulse sequences. Finally, we also measure and simulate the effects from the free evolution of the quantum system during finite pulse durations. Due to the large data volume and the strong dependence of these ambiguous resonances with specific experimental parameters, we provide a simulations data set with a user-friendly graphical interface, where users can compare simulations with their own experimental data for spectral disambiguation. Although focused on nitrogen-vacancy centers and dynamical decoupling sequences, these results and the developed model can potentially be applied to other solid-state spins and quantum sensing techniques.
1 Department Spins in Energy Conversion and Quantum Information Science (ASPIN), Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH, Hahn-Meitner-Platz 1, 14109 Berlin, Germany
2 Department of Physics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Newtonstraße 15, 12489 Berlin, Germany
3 Ferdinand-Braun-Institut (FBH), Gustav-Kirchhoff-Straße 4, 12489 Berlin, Germany
4 Berlin Joint EPR Laboratory, Fachbereich Physik, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH):
Color centers, Quantum sensing, Nitrogen vacancy centers in diamond, Nuclear magnetic resonance
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.
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