Rare-earth-doped crystals are excellent hardware for quantum storage of optical information. Additional functionality of these materials is added by their waveguiding properties allowing for on-chip photonic networks. However, detection and coherent
properties of rare-earth single-spin qubits have not been demonstrated so far. Here, we present experimental results on high-fidelity optical initialization, effcient coherent manipulation, and optical readout of a single electron spin of Ce$^{3+}$ ion in a YAG crystal. Under dynamic decoupling, spin coherence lifetime reaches $T_2$=2 ms and is almost limited by the measured spin-lattice relaxation time $T_1$=3.8 ms. Strong hyperfine coupling to aluminium nuclear spins suggests that cerium electron spins can be exploited as an interface between photons and long-lived nuclear spin memory. Combined with high brightness of Ce$^{3+}$ emission and a possibility of creating photonic circuits out of the host material, this makes cerium spins an interesting option for integrated quantum photonics.
The deposition of thin SiO$_x$C$_y$H$_z$ or SiO$_x$H$_y$ films by means of atmospheric pressure microplasma jets with admixture of Hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) and oxygen and the role of surface reactions in film growth are investigated. Two types of
microplasma jets, one with a planar electrodes and operated in helium gas and the other one with a coaxial geometry operated in argon, are used to study the deposition process. The growth rate of the film and the carbon-content in the film are measured as a function of the O$_2$ and HMDSO admixture in the planar jet and are compared to mass spectrometry measurements of the consumption of HMDSO. Additionally, the localized nature of the jet-substrate interaction is utilized to study surface reactions by applying two jets on a rotating substrate. The addition of oxygen into the gas mixture increases HMDSO depletion and the growth rate and results in the deposition of carbon free films. The surface reaction is responsible for the carbon removal from the growing film. Moreover, carbon free films can be deposited even without addition of oxygen, when coaxial jet operated with argon is used for the surface treatment. We hypothesize that ions or excited species (metastables) could be responsible for the observed effect.
Color centers in diamond nanocrystals are a new class of fluorescence markers that attract significant interest due to matchless brightness, photostability and biochemical inertness. Fluorescing diamond nanocrystals containing defects can be used as
markers replacing conventional organic dye molecules, quantum dots or autofluorescent proteins. They can be applied for tracking and ultrahigh-resolution localization of the single markers. In addition the spin properties of diamond defects can be utilized for novel magneto-optical imaging (MOI) with nanometer resolution. We develop this technique to unravel the details of the rotary motions and the elastic energy storage mechanism of a single biological nanomotor FoF1-ATP synthase. FoF1-ATP synthase is the enzyme that provides the chemical energy currency adenosine triphosphate, ATP, for living cells. The formation of ATP is accomplished by a stepwise internal rotation of subunits within the enzyme. Previously subunit rotation has been monitored by single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) and was limited by the photostability of the fluorophores. Fluorescent nanodiamonds advance these FRET measurements to long time scales.
