Spectroscopy properties of a single praseodymium ion in a crystal

Addressing and coherent control of single atoms in solids, with both optical and nuclear spin degrees of freedom is of particularly interest for applications ranging from nanoscale sensing to quantum computing. Here, we performed the spectroscopy study of single praseodymium ions in an yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) crystal at cryogenic temperature. The single nuclear spin of individual praseodymium ions is detected through a background-free optical upconversion readout technique. Single ions show stable photoluminescence (PLE) with spectrally resolved hyperfine splitting of the praseodymium ground state. Based on this measurement, optical Rabi and optically detected nuclear magnetic resonance (ODNMR) measurements are performed to study their spin coherence properties. We find short the spin coherence times of praseodymium nuclear spins which we attribute to spin phonon coupling.