Abstract
As quantum mechanics ventures into the world of applications and engineering, materials science faces the necessity to design matter to quantum grade purity. For such materials, quantum effects define their physical behaviour and open completely new (quantum) perspectives for applications. Carbon-based materials are particularly good examples, highlighted by the fascinating quantum properties of, for example, nanotubes1 or graphene2. Here, we demonstrate the synthesis and application of ultrapure isotopically controlled single-crystal chemical vapour deposition (CVD) diamond with a remarkably low concentration of paramagnetic impurities. The content of nuclear spins associated with the 13C isotope was depleted to 0.3% and the concentration of other paramagnetic defects was measured to be <1013 cm−3. Being placed in such a spin-free lattice, single electron spins show the longest room-temperature spin dephasing times ever observed in solid-state systems (T2=1.8 ms). This benchmark will potentially allow observation of coherent coupling between spins separated by a few tens of nanometres, making it a versatile material for room-temperature quantum information processing devices. We also show that single electron spins in the same isotopically engineered CVD diamond can be used to detect external magnetic fields with a sensitivity reaching 4 nT Hz−1/2 and subnanometre spatial resolution.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
Change history
14 April 2009
In the version of this Letter originally published online, the family name of one of the co-authors, Norikazu Mizuochi, was spelt incorrectly; it is correct here, and has now been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions.
References
Cleuziou, J. P., Wernsdorfer, W., Bouchiat, V., Ondarcuhu, T. & Monthioux, M. Carbon nanotube superconducting quantum interference device. Nature Nanotech. 1, 53–59 (2006).
Geim, A. K. & Novoselov, K. S. The rise of graphene. Nature Mater. 6, 183–191 (2007).
Harneit, W., Meyer, C., Weidinger, A., Suter, D. & Twamley, J. Architectures for a spin quantum computer based on endohedral fullerenes. Phys. Status Solidi B 233, 453–461 (2002).
Benjamin, S. C. et al. Towards a fullerene-based quantum computer. J. Phys. Condens. Matter 18, S867–S883 (2006).
Jorgensen, H. I. et al. Singlet–triplet physics and shell filling in carbon nanotube double quantum dots. Nature Phys. 4, 536–539 (2008).
Gaebel, T. et al. Room-temperature coherent coupling of single spins in diamond. Nature Phys. 2, 408–413 (2006).
Balasubramanian, G. et al. Nanoscale imaging magnetometry with diamond spins under ambient conditions. Nature 455, 648–U46 (2008).
Maze, J. R. et al. Nanoscale magnetic sensing with an individual electronic spin in diamond. Nature 455, 644–U41 (2008).
Childress, L. et al. Coherent dynamics of coupled electron and nuclear spin qubits in diamond. Science 314, 281–285 (2006).
Dutt, M. V. G. et al. Quantum register based on individual electronic and nuclear spin qubits in diamond. Science 316, 1312–1316 (2007).
Neumann, P. et al. Multipartite entanglement among single spins in diamond. Science 320, 1326–1329 (2008).
Isberg, J. et al. High carrier mobility in single-crystal plasma-deposited diamond. Science 297, 1670–1672 (2002).
Tallaire, A. et al. Characterisation of high-quality thick single-crystal diamond grown by CVD with a low nitrogen addition. Diamond Relat. Mater. 15, 1700–1707 (2006).
Maze, J. R., Taylor, J. M. & Lukin, M. D. Electron spin decoherence of single nitrogen-vacancy defects in diamond. Phys. Rev. B 78, 094303.
Schmidt, R. et al. Spherical nanosized focal spot unravels the interior of cells. Nature Meth. 5, 539–544 (2008).
Pake, G. E. Paramagnetic Resonance, An Introductory Monograph (Benjamin, 1962).
Scott, P. L. & Jeffries, C. D. Spin-lattice relaxation in some rare-earth salts at helium temperatures—observation of phonon bottleneck. Phys. Rev. 127, 32–51 (1962).
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the EU (QAP, EQUIND, NANO4DRUGS, NEDQIT), DFG (SFB/TR21 and FOR730), Landesstiftung BW and the Volkswagen Stiftung. P.R.H. acknowledges support by the NIH and DARPA.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
G.B., P.N., R.K., N.M., J.B., J.T., V.J., P.R.H. and F.J. carried out the experiments; D.T., M.M. and J.A. designed and carried out synthesis of diamond material. All authors discussed the results, analysed the data and commented on the manuscript. J.W. wrote the paper.
Corresponding authors
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Balasubramanian, G., Neumann, P., Twitchen, D. et al. Ultralong spin coherence time in isotopically engineered diamond. Nature Mater 8, 383–387 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2420
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2420
This article is cited by
-
Experimental sensing quantum atmosphere of a single spin
Quantum Frontiers (2024)
-
Long-lived electronic spin qubits in single-walled carbon nanotubes
Nature Communications (2023)
-
Deterministic Bell state measurement with a single quantum memory
npj Quantum Information (2023)
-
Nanodiamonds enable femtosecond-processed ultrathin glass as a hybrid quantum sensor
Scientific Reports (2023)
-
Thermal-activated escape of the bistable magnetic states in 2D Fe3GeTe2 near the critical point
Communications Physics (2023)