Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 11, 2026
All-electronic Nanosecond-resolved Scanning Tunneling Microscopy: Facilitating the Investigation of Single Dopant Charge Dynamics
Published on: January 19, 2018
Optically controlled switching of the charge state of a single nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond at cryogenic
13. Physikalisches Institut and Stuttgart Research Center of Photonic Engineering (SCoPE), Universität Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 57, Stuttgart D-70569, Germany. p.siyushev@physik.uni-stuttgart.de
Abstract:
In this Letter, the photoinduced switching of the single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center between two different charge states, negative (NV(-)) and neutral (NV(0)), is studied under resonant excitation at liquid helium temperature. We show that resonant conversion of NV(0) to NV(-) significantly improves spectral stability of the NV(-) defect and allows high fidelity initialization of the spin qubit. Based on density functional theory calculations a novel mechanism involving an Auger ionization of NV(-) and charge transfer of an electron from the valence band to NV(0) is discussed. This study provides further insight into the charge dynamics of the NV center, which is relevant for quantum information processing based on an NV(-) defect in diamond.
