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arXiv:1303.6996 · Physical Review Letters

Electromagnetically Induced Transparency in a Diamond Spin Ensemble Enables All-Optical Electromagnetic Field Sensing

Víctor M. Acosta, Kasper Jensen, Charles Santori, Dmitry Budker, Raymond G. Beausoleil

Published May 22, 2013• 122 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We use electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) to probe the narrow electron-spin resonance of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond. Working with a multipass diamond chip at temperatures 6--30 K, the zero-phonon absorption line (637 nm) exhibits an optical depth of 6 and inhomogeneous linewidth of $\ensuremath{\sim}30\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GHz}$ FWHM. Simultaneous optical excitation at two frequencies separated by the ground-state zero-field splitting (2.88 GHz) reveals EIT resonances with a contrast exceeding 6% and FWHM down to 0.4 MHz. The resonances provide an all-optical probe of external electric and magnetic fields with a projected photon-shot-noise-limited sensitivity of $0.2\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{V}/\mathrm{cm}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$ and $0.1\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{nT}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$, respectively. Operation of a prototype diamond-EIT magnetometer measures a noise floor of $\ensuremath{\lesssim}1\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{nT}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$ for frequencies above 10 Hz and Allan deviation of $1.3\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1.1\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{nT}$ for 100 s intervals. The results demonstrate the potential of diamond-EIT devices for applications ranging from quantum-optical memory to precision measurement and tests of fundamental physics.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.110.213605

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We use electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) to probe the narrow electron-spin resonance of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond. Working with a multipass diamond chip at temperatures 6--30 K, the zero-phonon absorption line (637 nm) exhibits an optical depth of 6 and inhomogeneous linewidth of \ensuremath∼30  GHz\ensuremath{\sim}30\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GHz}\ensuremath∼30  GHz FWHM. Simultaneous optical excitation at two frequencies separated by the ground-state zero-field splitting (2.88 GHz) reveals EIT resonances with a contrast exceeding 6% and FWHM down to 0.4 MHz. The resonances provide an all-optical probe of external electric and magnetic fields with a projected photon-shot-noise-limited sensitivity of 0.2  V/cm/Hz0.2\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{V}/\mathrm{cm}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}0.2  V/cm/Hz​ and 0.1  nT/Hz0.1\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{nT}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}0.1  nT/Hz​, respectively. Operation of a prototype diamond-EIT magnetometer measures a noise floor of \ensuremath≲1  nT/Hz\ensuremath{\lesssim}1\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{nT}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}\ensuremath≲1  nT/Hz​ for frequencies above 10 Hz and Allan deviation of 1.3\ifmmode±\else\textpm\fi1.1  nT1.3\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1.1\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{nT}1.3\ifmmode±\else\textpm\fi1.1  nT for 100 s intervals. The results demonstrate the potential of diamond-EIT devices for applications ranging from quantum-optical memory to precision measurement and tests of fundamental physics.
The negatively charged nitrogen vacancy center in diamond is widely used for quantum sensing due to the sensitivity of the spin triplet in the electronic ground state to external perturbations such as strain and electromagnetic fields, which makes it an excellent probe for changes in these perturbations.The spin state can be measured through optically detected magnetic resonance, which is most commonly achieved by detecting the photoluminescence after exciting the spin-triplet transition.Recently, methods have been proposed and demonstrated that use the absorption of the infrared singlet transition at 1042 nm instead.These methods, however, require cryogenic temperatures or external cavities to enhance the absorption signal.Here, we report on our efforts to optimize the magnetometer sensitivity at room temperature and without cavities.We reach a sensitivity of 18 pT/ √ Hz, surpassing previously reported values, and a calculated shot-noise limit of 5 pT/ √ Hz .We also report on a defect that is native to diamond grown by chemical vapor deposition and thus absent in high-pressure high-temperature diamond, the excitation of which impacts the measured singlet absorption signal.
The negatively charged nitrogen vacancy center in diamond is widely used for quantum sensing due to the sensitivity of the spin triplet in the electronic ground state to external perturbations such as strain and electromagnetic fields, which makes it an excellent probe for changes in these perturbations. The spin state can be measured through optically detected magnetic resonance, which is most commonly achieved by detecting the photoluminescence after exciting the spin-triplet transition. Recently, methods have been proposed and demonstrated that use the absorption of the infrared singlet transition at 1042 nm instead. These methods, however, require cryogenic temperatures or external cavities to enhance the absorption signal. Here, we report on our efforts to optimize the magnetometer sensitivity at room temperature and without cavities. We reach a sensitivity of 18 pT / Hz , surpassing previously reported values, and a calculated shot-noise limit of 5 pT / Hz . We also report on a defect that is native to diamond grown by chemical vapor deposition and thus absent in high-pressure high-temperature diamond, the excitation of which impacts the measured singlet absorption signal.
We demonstrate a cavity-enhanced room-temperature magnetic field sensor based on nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond. Magnetic resonance is detected using absorption of light resonant with the 1042 nm spin-singlet transition. The diamond is placed in an external optical cavity to enhance the absorption, and significant absorption is observed even at room temperature. We demonstrate a magnetic field sensitivity of 2.5  nT/Hz2.5\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{nT}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}2.5  nT/Hz​, and project a photon shot-noise-limited sensitivity of 70  pT/Hz70\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{pT}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}70  pT/Hz​ for a few mW of infrared light, and a quantum projection-noise-limited sensitivity of 250  fT/Hz250\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{fT}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}250  fT/Hz​ for the sensing volume of $\ensuremath{\sim}90\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{\ensuremath{\mu}}\mathrm{m}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}90\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{\ensuremath{\mu}}\mathrm{m}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}200\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{\ensuremath{\mu}}\mathrm{m}$.
We demonstrate magnetic-field sensing using an ensemble of nitrogen-vacancy centers by recording the variation in the pump-light absorption due to the spin-polarization dependence of the total ground-state population. Using a 532 nm pump laser, we measure the absorption of native nitrogen-vacancy centers in a chemical-vapor-deposited diamond placed in a resonant optical cavity. For a laser pump power of 0.4 W and a cavity finesse of 45, we obtain a noise floor of $\ensuremath{\sim}100 \mathrm{nT}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$ spanning a bandwidth up to 125 Hz. We project a photon shot-noise-limited sensitivity of $\ensuremath{\sim}1 \mathrm{pT}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$ by optimizing the nitrogen-vacancy concentration and the detection method.
We demonstrate an absolute magnetometer based on quantum beats in the ground state of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond. We show that, by eliminating the dependence of spin evolution on the zero-field splitting D, the magnetometer is immune to temperature fluctuation and strain inhomogeneity. We apply this technique to measure low-frequency magnetic field noise by using a single nitrogen-vacancy center located within 500 nm of the surface of an isotopically pure (99.99% 12C) diamond. The photon-shot-noise limited sensitivity achieves 38 nT/sqrt[Hz] for 4.45 s acquisition time, a factor of sqrt[2] better than the implementation which uses only two spin levels. For long acquisition times (>10 s), we realize up to a factor of 15 improvement in magnetic sensitivity, which demonstrates the robustness of our technique against thermal drifts. Applying our technique to nitrogen-vacancy center ensembles, we eliminate dephasing from longitudinal strain inhomogeneity, resulting in a factor of 2.3 improvement in sensitivity.