Transport of photogenerated carriers between individual NV centers in diamond

Spin-active color centers in semiconductors have emerged as a promising platform for quantum sensing and quantum communication. Exceptional spin properties of nitrogen vacancy center in diamond present it as one of the most suitable candidates for these applications. Importantly, the interplay between its spin and charge state is a crucial aspect of the ability to coherently manipulate these color centers¹. In this work, we articulate protocols for precise control over the charge state and photoionization of single NV centers implanted in bulk pure diamond. Building on this, for the first time, we demonstrate transport of photogenerated charge carriers between two individual NVs over the distance of several micrometers. We are able to establish a correlation between the spin state of the "source" NV center and the charge state of the "target" NV center using the spin-dependent carrier photogeneration. Having characterized properties of the observed transport, we explore the possibilities of utilizing the proposed platform as a way of communication between spatially separated NV-based qubits.

1. H. Jayakumar, A. Lozovoi, D. Daw, C. Meriles. Long-term spin state storage using ancilla charge memories (2020) Physical Review Letters (in press)