Optical spin polarisation of the N-V centre in diamond

Low-temperature electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy has been used to establish the ordering of the ground state spin levels of the nitrogen-vacancy colour centre in diamond. EPR spectroscopy with laser illumination of the sample is used to show that the optically induced spin polarisation observed in the ground state arises due to preferential population of the S-z = 0 state. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.