Polarization transfer between electric and nuclear spins at the level anti-crossing of the NV center in diamond

Point defect qubits in semiconductors offer new, highly polarizable and controllable electron spin resources to the be utilized in nuclear spin polarization experiment. The NV center in diamond holds a great promise for implementing various dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) mechanisms to achieve high degree of hyperpolarization at elevated temperatures. For example, the level anti-crossing of the electron spin states at moderate magnetic field allows all-optical DNP processes [1] with a mechanism of microwave-free polarization inversion [2]. In my talk, I summarize our most recent theoretical results on all-optical DNP at the level anti-crossing of NV center in diamond of different ¹³C nuclear spin concentrations. We demonstrate that the increasing nuclear spin concentration has a negative impact on the efficiency of nuclear polarization transfer that explains the lack of hyperpolarization in ¹³C enriched samples. Additionally, I assess the requirements and discuss possible layouts for hyperpolarizing external nuclear spins for sensitivity enhanced NMR and MRI measurements.

References:
[1] Ivady et.al., Phys. Rev. B 92, 115206 (2015)
[2] Ivady et.al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 220503 (2017)