Hybrid quantum systems seek to combine the strength of its constituents to master the fundamental conflicting requirements of quantum technology: fast and accurate systems control together with perfect shielding from the environment, including the me
asurements apparatus, to achieve long quantum coherence. Excellent examples for hybrid quantum systems are heterogeneous spin systems where electron spins are used for readout and control while nuclear spins are used as long-lived quantum bits. Here we show that joint initialization, projective readout and fast local and non-local gate operations are no longer conflicting requirements in those systems, even under ambient conditions. We demonstrate high-fidelity initialization of a whole spin register (99 %) and single-shot readout of multiple individual nuclear spins by using the ancillary electron spin of a nitrogen-vacancy defect in diamond. Implementation of a novel non-local gate generic to our hybrid electron-nuclear quantum register allows to prepare entangled states of three nuclear spins, with fidelities exceeding 85 %. An important tool for scalable quantum computation is quantum error correction. Combining, for the first time, optimal-control based error avoidance with error correction, we realize a three-qubit phase-flip error correction algorithm. Utilizing optimal control, all of the above algorithms achieve fidelities approaching fault tolerant quantum operation, thus paving the way to large scale integrations. Our techniques can be used to improve scaling of quantum networks relying on diamond spins, phosphorous in silicon or other spin systems like quantum dots, silicon carbide or rare earth ions in solids.
The nitrogen-vacancy centre (NV) has drawn much attention for over a decade, yet detailed knowledge of the photophysics needs to be established. Under typical conditions, the NV can have two stable charge states, negative (NV-) or neutral (NV0), with
photo induced interconversion of these two states. Here, we present detailed studies of the ionization dynamics of single NV centres in bulk diamond at room temperature during illumination in dependence of the excitation wavelength and power. We apply a recent method which allows us to directly measure the charge state of a single NV centre, and observe its temporal evolution. Results of this work are the steady state NV- population, which was found to be always < 75% for 450 to 610 nm excitation wavelength, the relative absorption cross-section of NV- for 540 to 610 nm, and the energy of the NV- ground state of 2.6 eV below the conduction band. These results will help to further understand the photo-physics of the NV centre.
