Spontaneous parametric four wave mixing and fluorescence lifetime manipulation in the diamond nitrogen vacancy center

We report the lifetime of spontaneous parametric four wave mixing (SP-FWM) and multiorder fluorescence in two-, three-, and four-level systems of negatively charged nitrogen vacancy (NV⁻) in diamond. The lifetime of SP-FWM is enhanced at high power by the induced dark state from coupling fields. The reduction and enhancement in fluorescence lifetime are attributed to destructive and constructive quantum interference, respectively. The quantum interference is induced by interaction among different decay pathways of spontaneous emission by closely spaced energy levels, which can be controlled by dipole–dipole interaction and the mutual orientations of dipole moments. The lifetime is observed to be longer in two-level as compared to three-level and four-level systems. The different measured lifetimes suggest the sensitivity of these NV systems to quantum interference and the dressing effect. These outcomes may provide new insights in development of all-optical communication devices and quantum storage on photonic chips.