Proposal for a room-temperature diamond maser #MMPMID26394758
Jin L; Pfender M; Aslam N; Neumann P; Yang S; Wrachtrup J; Liu RB
Nat Commun 2015[]; 6 (ä): ä PMID26394758show ga
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 (?106?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 × 104, diamond size ?3 × 3 × 0.5?mm3 and pump power <10?W). A room-temperature diamond maser may facilitate a broad range of microwave technologies.