Simulating Decoherence of a Nitrogen – Vacancy Centre Spin Qubit via Ornstein – Uhlenbeck Process

Abstract

Owing to its remarkable optical properties and its ability to be controlled by microwave fields at room temperature, nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centre in diamond has been a promising platform for various nanotechnological applications, e.g. quantum sensing and magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The qubit associated with the NV centre ground state spin has been the key element for the realisation of such applications. Its coherence time determines the application performances, e.g. the sensitivity of the NV-qubit based quantum sensor. Due to unwanted and unavoidable interactions with noisy environment, the qubit undergoes decoherence that shortens its coherence time and hence reduces its application performance. Therefore, the investigation and mitigation of the decoherence of the NV qubit are of the utmost importance. Here, we simulate the qubit decoherence using Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process that is essential for designing a set of modulating control pulses to mitigate the effect.