Smooth Optimal Quantum Control for Robust Solid-State Spin Magnetometry

Phys Rev Lett. 2015 Nov 6;115(19):190801. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.190801. Epub 2015 Nov 6.

Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate a simple yet versatile optimal quantum control technique that achieves tailored robustness against qubit inhomogeneities and control errors while requiring minimal bandwidth. We apply the technique to nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond and verify its performance using quantum process tomography. In a wide-field NV center magnetometry scenario, we achieve a homogeneous sensitivity across a 33% drop in control amplitude, and we improve the sensitivity by up to 2 orders of magnitude for a normalized detuning as large as 40%, achieving a value of 20 nT Hz(-1/2) μm(3/2) in sensitivity times square root volume.