SpinEDU

Difficulty

Intermediate, Advanced

A hands-on laboratory platform for quantum education

spinEDU is a unique educational kit suitable for both undergraduate and graduate students who train in the field of quantum science and technology. This kit was developed by the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and is part of the student’s coursework. The kit allows students to explore and characterize qubits at room temperature.

Part of the student’s coursework

Built around practical lab work for quantum science and technology training.

Comprehensive lab manual

Coursework and workflows explain the theory and experimental steps.

“User-friendly” software

Operating software supports complex experiments and parameter changes on the fly.

Educational mission

Enable students to get first-hand knowledge and experience with a system of solid-state qubits and apply advanced methodologies for qubit quantum control and sensing by means of advanced microwave pulse sequences.

Lab setup

The spinEDU setup is built from three sub-systems: optical, microwave and data acquisition. The setup includes a [11 1] diamond with ~10′ NV-/cm3. The NV- center is a defect in diamond made of a substitutional nitrogen atom and an adjacent lattice vacancy site. Owing to its energy level structure, it exhibits spin-dependent photoluminescence, making it suitable for optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR).

01 • Microwave system

Pulsed MW bridge operating at the 2-4 GHz range with 30W peak power. Supports arbitrary waveform generating schemes.

02 • Data acquisition & software

Sophisticated data acquiring computer and user-friendly operating software for complex experiments and scripting.

03 • Optical system

Includes a pulsed laser diode for pumping the spins to the I0>_ state and reading out the ODMR signal.

Lab activities

The coursework is currently divided into lab sessions that guide students from system introduction to qubit operations and quantum state tomography.

Lab 1 – Introduction
Familiarize students with NVs in diamond, the experimental setup and acquisition software.
Lab 2 – ODMR measurements
Perform MW frequency swept ODMR measurements at various magnetic fields and find the NV resonance frequency.
Lab 3 – ODMR Rabi oscillations
Observe and measure Rabi oscillations as a function of
MW pulse length and MW pulse amplitude.
Lab 4 – Relaxation times
Measure the relaxation times (T1, T2, T2*) of NV centers in the diamond sample.
Lab 5 – Dynamical decoupling
Experiment with sequences such as Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill and XY, and measure coherence times.
Lab 6 – Single qubit operations and quantum state tomography
Perform single qubit operations and measure gate fidelity using quantum state tomography.

Scientific background

NV- centers in diamonds are used in contemporary basic and applied research as potential building blocks of a quantum computer as well as quantum sensors.