Purcell and Pulse Induced Impact for Measurement Based on Nitrogen-Vacancy Centers in Diamond

Abstract:

Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color centers in diamond serve as promising atomic spin systems for measurement applications requiring high accuracy and sensitivity. A key challenge in NV-based quantum sensing is minimizing spin readout noise to approach the standard quantum limit (SQL). Based on a six-level model, this work analyze the dependence of NV-based quantum sensing performance, including spin state readout noise and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), on controllable parameters such as the Purcell factor and excitation laser pulse characteristics. This study demonstrates that a shorter excitation pulse duration results in a higher saturation value of ground-state spin polarization, while the total time required for the polarization process remains constant. Additionally, the spin readout noise does not improve monotonically with decreasing excitation pulse duration; instead, it initially decreases and subsequently increases as the pulse duration varies. The spin readout noise reaches its optimal level when the pulse duration is 3 ns. Furthermore, no positive correlation exists between the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the Purcell factor, and there is also an optimal value for SNR. When the pulse duration ranges from 1 ns to 40 ns, the variation in SNR is relatively insignificant. This research offers a novel perspective for enhancing the performance of quantum sensing based on diamond defects, such as nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers.

• Periodical: Key Engineering Materials (Volume 1034)
• Pages: 105-109
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/p-hJ8B48
• Online since: December 2025
• Authors: Lu Min Ji*, Li Ye Zhao, Yu Hai Wang
• Keywords: NV Center, Purcell Effect, Spin Readout

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