Photoelectrical readout and Ramsey interferometry of single shallowly implanted NV centers in diamond

Abstract

Photoelectrical readout of the electronic spin state of the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond is attracting significant interest due to the numerous advantages it possesses compared with conventional fluorescence readout. The higher charge carrier rate compared to the photon rate and the integration of the detection scheme on a chip can significantly advance quantum sensing and computing with color centers in diamond. Until now, photoelectric readout has been performed on ensembles of NV centers or single NV centers deep in ultrapure diamond substrates. However, many applications require the artificial creation and precise placement of shallow NV centers, and photoelectric detection of such centers has been challenging. Here we demonstrate photoelectrical readout and coherent control of the electronic spin of implanted shallow ($\sim$10 nm) NV centers buried by diamond overgrowth. The photoelectrically measured Ramsey $T_2^*$ agrees with conventional fluorescence readout and shows no measurable dependence on the readout photocurrent, for both shallow implanted and deep ingrown NV centers. We further find that overgrowth improves photoelectric readout by suppressing the background photocurrent. These results establish photoelectric readout as a viable route to chip-integrated, electrically detected nanoscale sensing and to spin registers based on engineered shallow NV centers.