Physicists at The City College of New York have developed a technique with the potential to enhance optical data storage capacity in diamonds. This is possible by multiplexing the storage in the spectral domain. The research by Richard G. Monge and Tom Delord, members of the Meriles Group in CCNY's Division of Science, is titled "Reversible optical data storage below the diffraction limit" and appears in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Optical spectroscopy and charge control of NV− centers under cryogenic conditions. a, Energy level diagram of NV−. Light red arrows (solid and dashed) indicate optical transitions around 637 nm between levels in the ground and first excited manifolds; dark red arrows indicate ionization photons, and wavy arrows denote emitted photons. b, Scanning confocal image under green excitation of a section of the crystal featuring multiple NVs. The insets at the sides show the optical spectra of the circled NVs in the set upon application of the protocol in the upper diagram using red illumination of variable frequency; here (and everywhere else unless noted), the horizontal axis is a frequency shift relative to 470.470 THz. For each case, we obtain a NV-selective image using the same protocol but with the 637 nm laser tuned to one of the S z transitions (indicated by an arrow in each spectrum); only the resonant NV− is visible in the images. The laser powers are 1.6 mW and 2 µW at 532 and 637 nm, respectively. c, NV− ionization protocol under strong optical excitation (210 µW) at 637 nm (top). MW1 (MW2) denotes MW excitation resonant with the m s = 0 ↔ m s = −1 (m s = 0 ↔ m s = +1) transition in the ground state triplet; the duration of the π-pulses is 100 ns. Relative NV− charge state population as a function of the ionization interval τ I for a…