Abstract
The Jahn–Teller effect (JTE) widely exists in polyatomic systems including organic molecules, nano-magnets, and solid-state defects. Detecting the JTE at single-molecule level can provide unique properties about the detected individual object. However, such measurements are challenging because of the weak signals associated with a single quantum object. Here, we propose that the dynamic JTE of single defects in solids can be observed with nearby quantum sensors. With numerical simulations, we demonstrate the real-time monitoring of JT axis jumps between different stable configurations of single substitutional nitrogen defect centers (P1 centers) in diamond. This is achieved by measuring the spin coherence of a single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center near the P1 center with the double electron-electron resonance technique. Our work extends the ability of NV center as a quantum probe to sense the rich physics in various electron-vibrational coupled systems.
Highlights
Jahn-Teller effect (JTE) widely exists in polyatomic systems including organic molecules, nanomagnets, and solid-state defects
To our knowledge, the real-time measurement of dynamic JTE of an individual system is not achieved because of the weak signal associated with a single molecule or a single defect
We propose to measure the dynamic JTE of a typical kind of single solid-state defects, namely, the substitutional nitrogen defect centers (P1 centers) in diamond [2]
Summary
We consider a type-Ib diamond sample, where single NV centers are embedded in the electron spin bath of P1 centers (see Fig. 1). The resonant frequency of the P1 center depends on its orientations and nuclear spin states [4, 17, 21]. The electron spin of the P1 center couples to its nitrogen nuclear spin by the hyperfine interaction. For the P1 centers with distortion axis parallel with the magnetic field direction (the v = a case), the coupling strength A(ka) = 114 MHz. Otherwise, if the distortion axis lies in the other three equivalent directions (i.e., v = b, c or d), the coupling strength A(kv) = 86 MHz. For a given orientation v, the hyperfine coupling results in three resonant peaks corresponding to nuclear spin magnetic quantum number.
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