Time-averaging within the excited state of the nitrogen-vacancy centre in diamond

The emission intensity of diamond samples containing negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy centres are measured as a function of magnetic field along the 111 direction for various temperatures. At low temperatures the responses are sample and stress dependent and can be modelled in terms of the previous understanding of the 3E excited state fine structure which is strain dependent. At room temperature the responses are largely sample and stress independent, and modelling involves invoking a strain independent excited state with a single zero field spin-level splitting of 1.42 GHz. The change in behaviour is attributed to a temperature dependent averaging process over the components of the excited state orbital doublet. It decouples orbit and spin and at high temperature the spin levels become independent of any orbit splitting. One significant implication of this averaging is that it simplifies the development of room temperature applications

Spin-flip and spin-conserving optical transitions of the nitrogen-vacancy centre in diamond

We map out the first excited state sublevel structure of single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) colour centres in diamond. The excited state is an orbital doublet where one branch supports an efficient cycling transition, while the other can simultaneously support fully allowed optical Raman spin-flip transitions. This is crucial for the success of many recently proposed quantum information applications of the NV defects. We further find that an external electric field can be used to completely control the optical properties of a single centre. Finally, a group theoretical model is developed that explains the observations and provides good physical understanding of the excited state structure

Issues concerning the nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond

The nitrogen-vacancy (N-V) center in diamond has been extensively studied and several novel properties identified. As a consequence the center has interesting applications. However, the center is not completely understood. In this work a new electronic model is proposed which accounts for the fine structure of the excited state and for many of the associated properties of the center. In addition the paper discusses the remaining difficulties and indicates the studies required to resolve the outstanding issues

Effects of magnetic field on the low temperature emission of nitrogen vacancy centres in diamond

Under optical illumination in the blue or green, negatively charged nitrogen vacancy centres in diamond emit in the red. The intensity of this emission varies slightly depending on spin state occupation. Optical transitions occur predominantly without change of spin projection. However, excited m s = ±1 states can decay non-radiatively to the ground m s = 0 state via intermediary singlet states.With continuous excitation, this effect transfers most of the population to the ms = 0 state resulting in decay becoming almost entirely radiative so that optical emission is stronger than when all spin states are occupied equally. However, under optical illumination the ms = 0 polarization is reduced when an applied magnetic field induces avoided crossings between energy levels. The spin states are mixed and some population is diverted into the ms = ±1 states with consequent reduction in optical emission. The change of emission can be calculated from a rate equation model involving the spin states of the ground and excited levels plus one singlet level [5]. The spin states of the excited levels are also affected by strain and in this work we calculate the variation in optical emission with changing magnetic field for various fixed values of strain

NV–NV electron–electron spin and NV–Ns electron — electron and electron-nuclear spin interaction in diamond

Features associated with the cross relaxation between spin of the ground electric state of the nitrogen vacancy centre (NV) and other impurity spins, mainly substitutional nitrogen, NS, are observed as changes of the emission intensity as a function of external magnetic field. The features are attributed to NV-NV electron-electron spin interaction, NV-NS electron-nuclear spin interaction and NV electron spin interaction with simultaneous change of an NS electron and nuclear spin change

Intrinsic properties of the NV center in diamond

The object is to summarise our understanding of the negative nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond and also to highlight difficulties with current models

Global atmospheric change effects on terrestrial carbon sequestration: Exploration with a global C- and N-cycle model (CQUESTN)

A model of the interacting global carbon and nitrogen cycles (CQUESTN) is developed to explore the possible history of C-sequestration into the terrestrial biosphere in response to the global increases (past and possible future) in atmospheric CO2 concentration, temperature and N-deposition. The model is based on published estimates of pre-industrial C and N pools and fluxes into vegetation, litter and soil compartments. It was found necessary to assign low estimates of N pools and fluxes to be compatible with the more firmly established C-cycle data. Net primary production was made responsive to phytomass N level, and to CO2 and temperature deviation from preindustrial values with sensitivities covering the ranges in the literature. Biological N-fixation could be made either unresponsive to soil C:N ratio, or could act to tend to restore the preindustrial C:N of humus with different N-fixation intensities. As for all such simulation models, uncertainties in both data and functional relationships render it more useful for qualitative evaluation than for quantitative prediction. With the N-fixation response turned off, the historic CO2 increase led to standard-model sequestration into terrestrial ecosystems in 1995AD of 1.8 Ct C yr(-1). With N-fixation restoring humus C:N strongly, C sequestration was 3 Ct yr(-1) in 1995. In both cases C:N of phytomass and litter increased with time and these increases were plausible when compared with experimental data on CO2 effects. The temperature increase also caused net C sequestration in the model biosphere because decrease in soil organic matter was more than offset by the increase in phytomass deriving from the extra N mineralised. For temperature increase to reduce system C pool size, the biosphere ''leakiness'' to N would have to increase substantially with temperature. Assuming a constant N-loss coefficient, the historic temperature increase alone caused standard-model net C sequestration to be about 0.6 Gt C in 1995. Given the disparity of plant and microbial C:N, the modelled impact of anthropogenic N-deposition on C-sequestration depends substantially on whether the deposited N is initially taken up by plants or by soil microorganisms. Assuming the latter, standard-model net sequestration in 1995 was 0.2 Ct C in 1995 from the N-deposition effect alone. Combining the effects of the historic courses of CO2, temperature and N-deposition, the standard-model gave C-sequestration of 3.5 Ct in 1995. This involved an assumed weak response of biological N-fixation to the increased carbon status of the ecosystem. For N-fixation to track ecosystem C-fixation in the long term however, more phosphorus must enter the biological cycle. New experimental evidence shows that plants in elevated CO2 have the capacity to mobilize more phosphorus from so-called ''unavailable'' sources using mechanisms involving exudation of organic acids and phosphatases