Quantum Diamonds are Forever!
ABSTRACT :
Over the past few years, researchers have discovered that various paramagnetic defects in otherwise neatly arranged crystals such as diamond, silicon carbide, and hexagonal boron nitride possess certain peculiar attributes. In this talk, I will discuss physics behind the extraordinary properties of the most celebrated spin defect, i.e. nitrogen vacancy centre in diamond. I will explain how the defect properties can be effectively characterised and manipulated via various means including specific optical illumination, DC electric fields, static as well as microwave magnetic fields, and bespoke machine learning based protocols. In a nutshell, the purpose of the talk would be to convey the ideas that are at the heart of quantum technologies based on optically active spin defects.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Dr Siddharth Dhomkar is an experimental condensed matter physicist with undergraduate and Master’s degrees in Physics from University of Pune. His doctoral research at the City University of New York, focused on understanding magneto-optical effects in epitaxially grown quantum structures and their application in varied devices such as solar cells and lasers. His first postdoctoral work at the City College of New York was directed towards physics of defect centres in diamond for diverse applications including memory storage, spintronics, quantum sensing, and dynamic nuclear polarisation. Subsequently, he spent more than four years as a senior research fellow at University College London to build a state-of-the-art lab that investigates optically addressable spin-defects for nano-scale sensing and quantum information processing. Apart from exploring materials that exhibit quirky quantum effects, he is interested in employing artificial neural networks to resolve intricate problems in the quantum domain. He joined the Department of Physics, IIT Madras, in October 2022 to continue his journey of the quantum world.