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Updated: May 13, 2026

Compact Quantum Dots for Single-molecule Imaging
Published on: October 9, 2012
Single-shot readout of multiple nuclear spin qubits in diamond under ambient conditions
A Dréau1, P Spinicelli, J R Maze
1Laboratoire de Photonique Quantique et Moléculaire, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan and CNRS UMR 8537, 94235 Cachan, France.
Abstract:
We use the electronic spin of a single nitrogen-vacancy defect in diamond to observe the real-time evolution of neighboring single nuclear spins under ambient conditions. Using a diamond sample with a natural abundance of (13)C isotopes, we first demonstrate high fidelity initialization and single-shot readout of an individual (13)C nuclear spin. By including the intrinsic (14)N nuclear spin of the nitrogen-vacancy defect in the quantum register, we then report the simultaneous observation of quantum jumps linked to both nuclear spin species, providing an efficient initialization of the two qubits. These results open up new avenues for diamond-based quantum information processing including active feedback in quantum error correction protocols and tests of quantum correlations with solid-state single spins at room temperature.
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