title: Coherent population trapping in diamond N-V centers at zero magnetic field.
abstract: Coherent population trapping at zero magnetic field was observed for nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond under optical excitation. This was measured as a reduction in photoluminescence when the detuning between two excitation lasers matched the 2.88 GHz crystal-field splitting of the color center ground states. This behavior is highly sensitive to strain, which modifies the excited states, and was unexpected following recent experiments demonstrating optical readout of single nitrogen-vacancy electron spins based on cycling transitions. These results demonstrate for the first time that three-level Lambda configurations suitable for proposed quantum information applications can be realized simultaneously for all four orientations of nitrogen-vacancy centers at zero magnetic field.
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Santori
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fattal
authors.forename: Sean M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Spillane
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fiorentino
authors.forename: Raymond G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Beausoleil
authors.forename: Andrew D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Greentree
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Olivero
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Draganski
authors.forename: James R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Rabeau
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Reichart
authors.forename: Brant C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Gibson
authors.forename: Sergey
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rubanov
authors.forename: David N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Jamieson
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Prawer