Our machine relies on an engineered diamond surface to interface two distinct quantum systems:
- An atom-like defect center in diamond positioned a few nanometers below the diamond surface.
- A 2-dimensional ensemble of atoms (e.g. Holmium) deposited using thin film techniques.
The high level of control over the qubit, the diamond surface, and the adatoms (density, mobility and temperature) makes this system an ideal platform to study 2-dimensional many body quantum systems [1], decoherence mechanisms [2], quantum sensing techniques etc.
We are also working on a new platform that combines the strengths of shallow NV centers as quantum sensors and DNA origami as a breadboard for arranging molecules with spins into arrays. DNA origami is a technique that employs hundreds of short single-stranded DNA to fold a long single-stranded DNA into nanoscale architectures with designed 2D or 3D shapes. In collaboration with Professor Deborah Fygenson at UCSB, we design and synthesize such structures with arrays of single nitroxide spin labels or single Gadolinium spin labels. We then place the spin-labeled DNA origami onto the diamond surface. Our objective is to investigate these many-body spin systems via the dipolar interaction between the spin labels and shallow NV centers beneath the diamond surface.
References
Protecting qubit coherence by spectrally engineered driving of the spin environment – arXiv:2101.09654 (2021)
Extending the Quantum Coherence of a Near-Surface Qubit by Coherently Driving the Paramagnetic Surface Environment – Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 146804 (2019).
Identifying and mitigating charge instabilities in shallow diamond nitrogen-vacancy centers – Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 076101 (2019).
Probing surface noise with depth-calibrated spins in diamond – Phys. Rev. Lett., 113, 027602 (2014).