Gyroscopes based on nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond

We propose solid-state gyroscopes based on ensembles of negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV^-) centers in diamond. In one scheme, rotation of the NV^- symmetry axis will induce Berry phase shifts in the NV^- electronic ground-state coherences proportional to the solid angle subtended by the symmetry axis. We estimate a sensitivity in the range of 5×10^-3 rad4pt0exs^-14pt0exHz^-1/2 in a 1-mm³ sensor volume using a simple Ramsey sequence. Incorporating dynamical decoupling to suppress dipolar relaxation may yield a sensitivity at the level of 10^-5 rad4pt0exs^-14pt0exHz^-1/2. With a modified Ramsey scheme, Berry phase shifts in the ¹⁴N hyperfine sublevels would be employed. The projected sensitivity is in the range of 10^-5 rad4pt0exs^-14pt0exHz^-1/2, however, the lower gyromagnetic ratio of ¹⁴N nuclei reduces the sensitivity to magnetic-field noise by several orders of magnitude. Reaching 10^-5 rad4pt0exs^-14pt0exHz^-1/2 would represent an order of magnitude improvement over other compact, solid-state gyroscope technologies.