Quantum spin-1 chain with NV centers in diamond: phase diagram and potential applications for quantum simulations*

Quantum spin-1 chains have been studied extensively due to their rich phase diagram and potential applications as quantum simulators. The (1+1)-dimensional Abelian-Higgs model has been mapped, in a manifestly gauge-invariant way, to quantum spin-S Hamiltonians, and the effects of the S-truncation has been studied, with S=1 presenting particularly rich critical behavior [1]. Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond have spin triplet (S=1) states that can be initialized, and individually addressed and measured [2]. In addition, spin-spin interactions may be engineered through coupling to magnon modes [3,4]. Here we discuss potential applications of the NV centers in diamond as quantum simulators for universal critical behavior, and explore the phase diagram of one-dimensional NV-center spins coupled through magnetic dipole interaction.

[1] J. Zhang et al., Phys. Rev. B 103, 245137 (2021).

[2] V. V. Dobrovitski, et al., Annu. Rev. Condens. Matter Phys. 4, 23 (2013)

[3] D. R. Candido, et al., Mater. Quantum. Technol. 1, 011001 (2021).

[4] M. Fukami, et al., PRX Quantum 2, 040314 (2021)