Abstract

Solid state emitters of single photons could be of outstanding importance to quantum photonic application and basic research. In addition, if photon emission indicates quantum states of other degrees of freedom unique applications arise. It turns out that diamond defects possess outstanding properties in this respect. It is known that diamond has outstanding material properties, including ultrahardness and higher thermal conductivity than any other solid material. In addition, diamond has recently become much more attractive for solid-state electronics, with the development of techniques to grow high-purity, single-crystal synthetic diamonds and insert suitable impurities into them (doping). Pure diamond is an electrical insulator, but doped with boron, it can become a semiconductor with outstanding properties. It could be used for detecting ultraviolet light, ultraviolet light-emitting diodes and optics, and high-power microwave electronics. But the application that has many researchers excited is quantum spintronics, which could lead to a practical quantum computer, ultrasecure communication and has the potential for revolutionizing imaging schemes. This is based on the fact that defects in diamond are exceptionally well shielded from their environment, allowing e.g. multipartite entangled states to be observed over ms in a room temperature solid [1,3]. The very same fact renders electron spins in diamond to be exceptionally high resolution magnetic field sensors [2]. The talk will highlight recent achievements in solid-state quantum optics and spin physics with diamond, which may also have important spin off to other areas like e.g. biophysics.

© 2011 IEEE