arXiv subjects

Norikazu Mizuochi

Publications and source records attributed to Norikazu Mizuochi.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Enhanced Temperature Sensitivity in Ensemble NV Centers through Improved Optically Detected Magnetic Resonance Spectral Modeling

Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center ensembles provide a powerful platform for high-precision temperature sensing, with ongoing efforts to further enhance their measurement performance. In ensemble NV optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) spectra, commonly used Lorentzian and Voigt fitting models fail to accurately describe the spectral shape near the resonance frequency, leading to degraded precision in resonance-frequency determination and, consequently, temperature estimation. In this work, we analytically establish a new fitting method, termed dip-peak fitting, for extracting the resonance frequency from ensemble cw-ODMR spectra. Starting from a physical model that describes ensemble cw-ODMR spectra as a convolution of single-NV responses with distributed zero-field splitting and strain, we show that the spectral feature near resonance can be accurately approximated by a single Lorentzian function with a background term. The proposed fitting model reproduces the cw-ODMR spectrum around resonance more faithfully than conventional approaches, enabling faster and more accurate resonance-frequency determination under weaker microwave excitation. Experiments using fluorescent nanodiamond ensembles confirm the robustness and applicability of this method for high-precision temperature sensing.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2026

Entanglement-enhanced AC magnetometry in the presence of Markovian noises

Entanglement is a resource to improve the sensitivity of quantum sensors. In an ideal case, using an entangled state as a probe to detect target fields, we can beat the standard quantum limit by which all classical sensors are bounded. However, since entanglement is fragile against decoherence, it is unclear whether entanglement-enhanced metrology is useful in a noisy environment. Its benefit is indeed limited when estimating the amplitude of DC magnetic fields under the effect of parallel Markovian decoherence, where the noise operator is parallel to the target field. In this paper, on the contrary, we show an advantage to using an entanglement over the classical strategy under the effect of parallel Markovian decoherence when we try to detect AC magnetic fields. We consider a scenario to induce a Rabi oscillation of the qubits with the target AC magnetic fields. Although we can, in principle, estimate the amplitude of the AC magnetic fields from the Rabi oscillation, the signal becomes weak if the qubit frequency is significantly detuned from the frequency of the AC magnetic field. We show that, by using the GHZ states, we can significantly enhance the signal of the detuned Rabi oscillation even under the effect of parallel Markovian decoherence. Our method is based on the fact that the interaction time between the GHZ states and AC magnetic fields scales as $1/L$ to mitigate the decoherence effect where $L$ is the number of qubits, which contributes to improving the bandwidth of the detectable frequencies of the AC magnetic fields. Our results open up the way for new applications of entanglement-enhanced AC magnetometry.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Photoelectrical detection and characterization of divacancy and PL5-PL7 spins in silicon carbide

Photoelectrical detection of magnetic resonance (PDMR) offers a scalable alternative to optical readout of spin defects in semiconductors and is particularly promising for near-infrared (NIR) emitters, where photodetection is often challenging. Here, we demonstrate room-temperature coherent PDMR of PL3 (divacancy), PL5, PL6, and PL7 spins. PL7 and PL5 exhibit notably stronger PDMR than PL6 as opposed to optical detection, indicating higher ionization efficiency and suitability for electrical readout. Rabi oscillation and two-frequency spectroscopy reveal a previously undiscovered secondary resonance of PL7. We determine the zero-field splitting parameters of PL7 and assign the recently reported PL3a defect to PL7. The demonstrated PDMR of these NIR defects constitutes a key advancement toward quantum electronic devices. Also, the clarified spin parameters and ionization characteristics provide a solid foundation for advancing quantum technologies utilizing these defects regardless of the detection schemes.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Photoionization current spectroscopy of individual silicon vacancies in silicon carbide

Defect charge-state dynamics are central to both spin-photon interfaces and photoelectrical spin readout. Despite the significance of silicon vacancies (V1/V2) in silicon carbide (4H-SiC) for both applications, their ionization behavior has remained unclear because their lack of optical blinking prevents conventional charge-state analysis. Here, we employ photocurrent spectroscopy of individual defects to measure the wavelength dependence of their excitation and ionization cross-sections. We reveal that V1 and V2 exhibit similar ionization cross-sections that increase toward shorter wavelengths, while carbon vacancies dominate the more steeply increasing background photocurrent. These results indicate that V2 and its surrounding environment appear more robust than V1 under resonant excitation. We also identify wavelength regimes that optimize defect-origin photocurrent for photoelectrical spin readout relative to background contributions, which differ between single-defect and ensemble measurements. Our results establish photocurrent spectroscopy as a powerful complement to optical methods, advancing the development of defect-based quantum devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Hybrid-spin decoupling for noise-resilient DC quantum sensing

The excellent sensitivities of quantum sensors are a double-edged sword: minuscule quantities can be observed, but any undesired signal acts as noise. This is challenging when detecting quantities that are obscured by such noise. Decoupling sequences improve coherence times and hence sensitivities, though only AC signals in narrow frequency bands are distinguishable. Alternatively, comagnetometers operate gaseous spin mixtures at high temperatures in the self-compensating regime to counteract slowly varying noise. These are applied with great success in various exotic spin-interaction searches. Here, we propose a method that decouples specific DC fields from DC and AC magnetic noise. It requires any spin cluster where the effect on each individual spin is different for the target field and local magnetic fields, which allows for a different approach compared to comagnetometers. The presented method has several key advantages, including an orders-of-magnitude increase in noise frequencies to which we are resistant. We explore electron-spin nuclear-spin pairs in nitrogen-vacancy centres in diamond, with a focus on their merit for light dark-matter searches. Other applications include gradient sensing, quantum memory, and gyroscopes.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Beyond Qubits: Multilevel Quantum Sensing for Dark Matter

Quantum sensing with qubits has advanced fundamental physics searches, but higher dimensional systems offer untapped potential. We present a universal qutrit framework that yields a sequence-independent fourfold increase in quantum Fisher information and a twofold gain in sensitivity. In ultralight dark matter searches, spin-1 NV-center qutrits can enhance the axion-electron coupling reach by an order of magnitude beyond qubits. This principle applies broadly to multilevel quantum systems including superconducting, neutral atom and trapped-ion qutrits, establishing higher dimensional sensing as a powerful tool for probing new physics.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Nuclear Spin Metrology with Nitrogen Vacancy Center in Diamond for Axion Dark Matter Detection

We present a method to directly detect the axion dark matter using nitrogen vacancy centers in diamonds. In particular, we use metrology leveraging the nuclear spin of nitrogen to detect axion-nucleus couplings. This is achieved through protocols designed for dark matter searches, which introduce a novel approach of quantum sensing techniques based on the nitrogen vacancy center. Although the coupling strength of the magnetic fields with nuclear spins is three orders of magnitude smaller than that with electron spins for conventional magnetometry, the axion interaction strength with nuclear spins is the same order of magnitude as that with electron spins. Furthermore, we can take advantage of the long coherence time by using the nuclear spins for the axion dark matter detection. We show that our method is sensitive to a broad frequency range $\lesssim 100\,\mathrm{Hz}$ corresponding to the axion mass $m_a \lesssim 4\times 10^{-13}\,\mathrm{eV}$. We present the detection limit of our method for both the axion-neutron and the axion-proton couplings and discuss its significance in comparison with other proposed ideas.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Light Dark Matter Search with Nitrogen-Vacancy Centers in Diamonds

We propose new ideas to directly search for light dark matter, such as the axion or the dark photon, by using magnetometry with nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamonds. If the dark matter couples to the electron spin, it affects the evolution of the Bloch vectors consisting of the spin triplet states, which may be detected through several magnetometry techniques. We give several concrete examples with the use of dc and ac magnetometry and estimate the sensitivity on dark matter couplings.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Emergence of giant spin-orbit torque in a two-dimensional hole gas on the hydrogen-terminated diamond surface

Two-dimensional (2D) carrier systems exhibit various significant physical phenomena for electronics and spintronics, where one of the most promising traits is efficient spin-to-charge conversion stemming from their Rashba-type spin-orbit interaction. Meanwhile, a nuisance in quests of promising materials for spintronics application is that vast majority of the investigated platforms consists of rare and/or toxic elements, such as Pt and Te, which hinders progress of spin conversion physics in view of element strategy and green technology. Here, we show the emergence of giant spin-orbit torque driven by 2D hole gas at the surface of hydrogen-terminated diamond, where the constituent substances are ubiquitous elements, carbon and hydrogen. The index of its spin torque efficiency at room temperature is several times greater than that of rare metal, Pt, the benchmark system/element for spin-to-charge conversion. Our finding opens a new pathway for more sustainable spintronics and spin-orbitronics applications, with efficient spin-orbit torque employing ubiquitous non-toxic elements.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Dopant-assisted stabilization of negatively charged single nitrogen-vacancy centers in phosphorus-doped diamond at low temperatures

Charge state instabilities have been a bottleneck for the implementation of solid-state spin systems and pose a major challenge to the development of spin-based quantum technologies. Here we investigate the stabilization of negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV$^-$) centers in phosphorus-doped diamond at liquid helium temperatures. Photoionization of phosphorous donors in conjunction with charge diffusion at the nanoscale enhances NV$^0$ to NV$^-$ conversion and stabilizes the NV$^-$ charge state without the need for an additional repump laser. The phosphorus-assisted stabilization is explored and confirmed both with experiments and our theoretical model. Stable photoluminescence-excitation spectra are obtained for NV$^-$ centers created during the growth. The fluorescence is continuously recorded under resonant excitation to real-time monitor the charge state and the ionization and recombination rates are extracted from time traces. We find a linear laser power dependence of the recombination rate as opposed to the conventional quadratic dependence, which is attributed to the photo-ionization of phosphorus atoms.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Frequency-tunable magnetic field sensing using continuous-wave optically detected magnetic resonance with nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond

The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center is a promising candidate to realize practical quantum sensors with high sensitivity and high spatial resolution, even at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. In conventional high-frequency AC magnetometry with NV centers, the setup requires a pulse sequence with an appropriate time synchronization and strong microwave power. To avoid these practical difficulties, AC magnetic field sensing using continuous-wave opticallydetected magnetic resonance (CW-ODMR) was recently demonstrated. That previous study utilized radio frequency (RF) dressed states generated by the coherent interaction between the electron spin of the NV center and the RF wave. However, the drawback of this method is that the detectable frequency of the AC magnetic fields is fixed. Here, we propose and demonstrate frequency-tunable magnetic field sensing based on CW-ODMR. In the new sensing scheme, we obtain RF double-dressed states by irradiation with a RF field at two different frequencies. One creates the RF dressed states and changes the frequency of the target AC field. The other is a target AC field that induces a change in the CW-ODMR spectrum by generating the RF double-dressed states through coherent interaction with the RF dressed states. The sensitivity of our method is estimated to be comparable to or even higher than that of the conventional method based on a RF field with a single frequency. The estimated bandwidth is 7.45 MHz, higher than that of the conventional method using the RF dressed states. Our frequency-tunable magnetic field sensor based on CW-ODMR paves the way for new applications in diamond devices.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

All-optical nanoscale thermometry based on silicon-vacancy centers in detonation nanodiamonds

Silicon-vacancy (SiV) centers in diamond are a promising candidate for all-optical nanoscale high-sensitivity thermometry because they have sufficient sensitivity to reach the subkelvin precision required for application to biosystems. It is expected that nanodiamonds with SiV centers can be injected into cells to measure the nanoscale local temperatures of biosystems such as organelles. However, the smallest particle size used to demonstrate thermometry using SiV centers is a few hundred nanometers. We recently developed SiV-center-containing nanodiamonds via a detonation process that is suitable for large-scale production. Here, we investigate the spectral response of SiV-center-containing detonation nanodiamonds (SiV-DNDs) to temperature. We used air-oxidized and polyglycerol-coated SiV-DNDs with a mean particle size of around 20 nm, which is the smallest size used to demonstrate thermometry using color centers in nanodiamond. We found that the zero-phonon line for SiV-DND is linearly red-shifted with increasing temperature in the range of 22.0 to 40.5 $^\circ C$. The peak sensitivity to temperature was 0.011 $\pm$ 0.002 nm/K, which agrees with the reported high sensitivity of SiV centers in bulk diamond. A temperature sensitivity analysis revealed that SiV-DND thermometry can achieve subkelvin precision. All-optical SiV-DND thermometry will be important for investigating nanosystems such as organelles in living cells.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2022

n-Type diamond synthesized with tert-butylphosphine for long spin coherence times of perfectly aligned NV centers

The longest spin coherence times for nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers at room temperature have been achieved in phosphorus-doped n-type diamond. However, difficulty controlling impurity incorporation and the utilization of highly toxic phosphine gas in the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique pose problems for the growth of n-type diamond. In the present study, n-type diamond samples were synthesized by CVD using tert-butylphosphine, which is much less toxic than phosphine. The unintentional incorporation of nitrogen was found to be suppressed by incrementally increasing the gas flow rates of H2 and CH$_4$. Hall measurements confirmed n-type conduction in three measured samples prepared under different growth conditions. The highest measured Hall mobility at room temperature was 422 cm$^2$/(Vs). In the sample with the lowest nitrogen concentration, the spin coherence time ($T_2$) increased to 1.62 $\pm$ 0.10 ms. Optically detected magnetic resonance spectra indicated that all of the measured NV centers were aligned along the [111] direction. This study provides appropriate CVD conditions for growing phosphorus-doped n-type diamond with perfectly aligned NV centers exhibiting long spin coherence times, which is important for the production of quantum diamond devices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2021

Probing thermal magnon current mediated by coherent magnon via nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond

Currently, thermally excited magnons are being intensively investigated owing to their potential in computing devices and thermoelectric conversion technologies. We report the detection of thermal magnon current propagating in a magnetic insulator yttrium iron garnet under a temperature gradient using a quantum sensor: electron spins associated with nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond. Thermal magnon current was observed as modified Rabi oscillation frequencies of NV spins hosted in a beam-shaped bulk diamond that resonantly coupled with coherent magnon propagating over a long distance. Additionally, using a nanodiamond, alteration in NV spin relaxation rates depending on the applied temperature gradient were observed under a non-resonant NV excitation condition. The demonstration of probing thermal magnon current mediated by coherent magnon via NV spin states serves as a basis for creating a device platform hybridizing spin caloritronics and spin qubits.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

The Anomalous Formation of Irradiation Induced Nitrogen-Vacancy Centers in 5-Nanometer-Sized Detonation Nanodiamonds

Nanodiamonds containing negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV$^-$) centers are versatile room-temperature quantum sensors in a growing field of research. Yet, knowledge regarding the NV-formation mechanism in very small particles is still limited. This study focuses on the formation of the smallest NV$^-$-containing diamonds, 5 nm detonation nanodiamonds (DNDs). As a reliable method to quantify NV$^-$ centers in nanodiamonds, half-field signals in electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy are recorded. By comparing the NV$^-$ concentration with a series of nanodiamonds from high-pressure high-temperature (HPHT) synthesis (10 - 100 nm), it is shown that the formation process in 5 nm DNDs is unique in several aspects. NV$^-$ centers in DNDs are already formed at the stage of electron irradiation, without the need for high-temperature annealing. The effect is explained in terms of "self-annealing", where size and type dependent effects enable vacancy migration close to room temperature. Although our experiments show that NV$^-$ concentration generally increases with particle size, remarkably, the NV$^-$ concentration in 5 nm DNDs surpasses that of 20 nm-sized nanodiamonds. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we show that the ten times higher substitutional nitrogen concentration in DNDs compensates the vacancy loss induced by the large relative particle surface. Upon electron irradiation at a fluence of $1.5 \times 10 ^{19}$ e$^-$/cm$^2$, DNDs show a 12.5-fold increment in the NV$^-$ concentration with no sign of saturation. These findings can be of interest for the creation of defects in other very small semiconductor nanoparticles beyond NV-nanodiamonds as quantum sensors.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2020

Control of all the transitions between ground state manifolds of nitrogen vacancy centers in diamonds by applying external magnetic driving fields

Nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in diamonds is a promising system for quantum information processing and quantum sensing, and the control of the quantum state is essential for practical applications. In this study, we demonstrate a control of all the three transitions among the ground state sublevels of NV centers by applying external magnetic driving fields. To address the states of a specific NV axis among the four axes, we apply a magnetic field orthogonal to the NV axis. We control two transitions by microwave pulses and the remaining transition by radio frequency pulses. In particular, we investigate the dependence of Rabi oscillations on the frequency and intensity of the radio frequency pulses. Our results pave the way for a novel control of NV centers for the realization of quantum information processing and quantum sensing.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Experimental and theoretical analysis of noise strength and environmental correlation time for ensembles of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond

We experimentally and theoretically investigate the Hahn echo decay curve for nitrogen vacancy centers in diamond with different spin concentrations. The Hahn echo results show a non-exponential decay for low spin concentrations, while an exponential decay is dominant for high spin concentrations. By fitting the decay curve with a theoretical model, we show that both the amplitude and correlation time of the environmental noise have a clear dependence on the spin concentration. These results are essential for optimizing the NV center concentration in high-performance quantum devices, particularly quantum sensors.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Room Temperature Electrically Detected Nuclear Spin Coherence of NV Centers in Diamond

We demonstrate electrical detection of the $^{14}$N nuclear spin coherence of NV centers at room temperature. Nuclear spins are candidates for quantum memories in quantum-information devices and quantum sensors, and hence the electrical detection of nuclear spin coherence is essential to develop and integrate such quantum devices. In the present study, we used a pulsed electrically detected electron-nuclear double resonance technique to measure the Rabi oscillations and coherence time ($T_2$) of $^{14}$N nuclear spins in NV centers at room temperature. We observed $T_2 \approx$ 0.9 ms at room temperature. Our results will pave the way for the development of novel electron- and nuclear-spin-based diamond quantum devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗