Our research centers on understanding and controlling spin dynamics in solid state systems. Drawing from condensed-matter physics, atomic physics, and materials engineering, we strive to develop new optical, electrical, and microwave frequency probes of spin dynamics at the nanoscale. Spin is a purely quantum mechanical degree of freedom of electrons and nuclei. The localized electronic states of point defects in wide-bandgap semiconductor crystals are ideal systems to explore these quantum properties, even under ambient conditions. In the case of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) defect centers in diamond, the quantum spin state of an individual defect can be optically initialized, coherently controlled, and optically interrogated. NV center spins have a simple Hamiltonian, providing a "toy-model" system that is suited for investigations of quantum information processing and precision measurement. We are interested in leveraging quantum phenomena and spin resonance techniques to develop these point-defects as sensitive detectors of magnetic fields with nanoscale spatial resolution. In addition, we seek to develop new semiconductor defect-based spin systems to enable new functionality for quantum communication, quantum information processing, and metrology.
