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Toward a temperature-insensitive composite diamond clock

Sean Lourette1,2,*, Andrey Jarmola1,2, Jabir Chathanathil2, Victor M. Acosta3, A. Glen Birdwell2, Peter Blümler4, Dmitry Budker1,4,5,6, Sebastián C. Carrasco2, Tony G. Ivanov2 et al.

Shimon Kolkowitz1 and Vladimir S. Malinovsky2

  • *Contact author: slourette@berkeley.edu
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Phys. Rev. Applied 25, 064046 – Published 11 June, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/z2sl-6gcc

Abstract

Frequency references based on solid-state spins promise simplicity, compactness, robustness, multifunctionality, ease of integration, and high densities of emitters. Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond are a natural candidate, but the electronic zero-field splitting (D≈2.87GHz) exhibits a large fractional temperature dependence (around 25ppb/mK), which has precluded its use as a stable clock transition. Here we show that this limitation can be overcome by forming a composite frequency reference that combines measurements of the electronic splitting D with the nuclear quadrupole splitting (Q≈4.94MHz) of the 14N nuclear spin intrinsic to the NV center. We further benchmark this composite approach against alternative strategies for mitigating temperature sensitivity, including cryogenic operation, temperature compensation, and active stabilization. By implementing a specially designed pulse sequence with an eight-phase control scheme that suppresses pulse imperfections, we interleave measurements of D and Q in a high-density NV ensemble and demonstrate a temperature-compensated composite frequency reference. The stability of this composite diamond clock is characterized over a 10-day period at room temperature through a comparison to a Rb vapor-cell clock, yielding a fractional instability below 5×10−9 for an averaging time of τ=200s and below 1×10−8 at τ=2×105s, corresponding to measured improvements by a factor of approximately 4 and approximately 200, respectively, over a clock based purely on the single frequency D for the same periods. By characterizing the residual sensitivity to magnetic fields, optical power, and radio-frequency drive amplitudes, we find that temperature is no longer the dominant source of instability. These results establish complementary electron- and nuclear-spin transitions in diamond as a viable route to thermally robust frequency metrology, providing a pathway toward compact, multifunctional solid-state clocks and quantum sensors.

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Corrections

22 June, 2026

Correction: An inline equation in the fourth sentence of the second paragraph of Sec. III was set incorrectly and has been fixed.

Article Text

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Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. Applied 25, 064046– Published 11 June, 2026
  • Received 31 December 2025
  • Revised 31 March 2026
  • Accepted 21 April 2026
  • Corrected 22 June 2026
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