Coherent control of the optical transition of single nitrogen-vacancy defect centers in diamond were demonstrated. Upon applying short resonant laser pulses, optical Rabi oscillations were observed having a half-period as short as 1ns; an order of magnitude shorter than the spontaneous emission time. By studying the decay of Rabi oscillations, it was found that the decoherence was dominated by laser-induced spectral jumps. By using a low-power probe pulse as a detuning sensor and applying post-selection, it was demonstrated that spectral diffusion could be overcome in this system to generate coherent photons.

Control and Coherence of the Optical Transition of Single Nitrogen Vacancy Centers in Diamond. L.Robledo, H.Bernien, I.van Weperen, R.Hanson: Physical Review Letters, 2010, 105[17], 177403