Generation of Nitrogen-Vacancy Center Pairs in Bulk Diamond by Molecular Nitrogen Implantation

The coupled negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV^-) center system is a promising candidate for scalable quantum information techniques. In this work, ionized nitrogen molecules are implanted into bulk diamond to generate coupled NV^- center pairs. The two-photon autocorrelation measurement and optically detected magnetic resonance measurement are carried out to confirm the production of the NV^- center pair. Also, both 1.3 μs decoherence time and 4.9 kHz magnetic coupling strength of the NV^- center pair are measured by controlling and detecting the spin states. Along with nanoscale manipulation and detection methods, such coupled NV^- centers through short distance dipole–dipole interaction would show high potential in scalable quantum information processes.