Comparison of optical trapping wavelengths for nanoscopic diamonds containing nitrogen-vacancy centers

Abstract

In this article, we explore the effect of two different infrared (IR) laser wavelengths on the optical properties of trapped nano-diamonds containing high-density ensembles of nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers. We investigate 975 nm and 1064 nm wavelengths for trapping lasers and find that NV photoluminescence quenching is more prominent for 1064 nm illumination than for 975 nm illumination when simultaneously excited with a 532 nm laser. In order to understand the underlying mechanism, we develop a rate-equation-based model that takes into account various transition probabilities. The model suggests that the findings cannot be explained only by imposing modification of the NV charge-state ratio under varied illumination wavelengths, and, thus, we speculate that the effective ionization and recombination rates associated with NV charge states for the studied samples are highly wavelength-dependent in the probed regime. Importantly, the results demonstrate that 975 nm laser is desirable for optical trapping of NV-diamonds, especially for NV-based sensing applications.