Proposal for a room-temperature diamond maser.

ABSTRACT: The application of masers is limited by its demanding working conditions (high vacuum or low temperature). A room-temperature solid-state maser is highly desirable, but the lifetimes of emitters (electron spins) in solids at room temperature are usually too short (?ns) for population inversion. Masing from pentacene spins in p-terphenyl crystals, which have a long spin lifetime (?0.1?ms), has been demonstrated. This maser, however, operates only in the pulsed mode. Here we propose a room-temperature maser based on nitrogen-vacancy centres in diamond, which features the longest known solid-state spin lifetime (?5?ms) at room temperature, high optical pumping efficiency (?10(6)?s(-1)) and material stability. Our numerical simulation demonstrates that a maser with a coherence time of approximately minutes is feasible under readily accessible conditions (cavity Q-factor ?5 × 10(4), diamond size ?3 × 3 × 0.5?mm(3) and pump power <10?W). A room-temperature diamond maser may facilitate a broad range of microwave technologies.

SUBMITTER: Jin L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4667537 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature