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arXiv:1503.00151 · Bulletin of the American Physical Society

Nitrogen Vacancy centers in diamond as $\theta ^{2}$ sensors

Shonali Dhingra, Brian D’Urso

Published Feb 28, 2015• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers are defects in diamonds, which, due to their electronic structure, have been extensively studied as magnetic field sensors. Such field detection applications usually employ the NV centers to detect field components aligned with the direction of the internally-defined spin axis of the NV center. In this work we detect magnetic fields not only aligned with the NV axis but making an angle $\theta$ with it. This detection scheme clearly shows that NV centers can be used as $\theta^2$ sensors. We further demonstrate that the sensitivity of this sensor increases very rapidly with increasing magnetic field, diverging as the external field approaches a value pre-defined by NV center's internal parameters. We show the sensitivity of this $\theta^2$ sensor matches up perfectly with the theoretical predictions of the same, made in one of our previous works~\cite{Durso11}. These results show that NV centers can be excellent for making quantum nondemolition (QND) measurements on systems such as a harmonic oscillator, to probe the oscillators quantum behavior.

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Nitrogen Vacancy centers in diamond as θ2\theta ^{2}θ2 sensors
Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers are defects in diamonds, which, due to their electronic structure, have been extensively studied as magnetic field sensors. Such field detection applications usually employ the NV centers to detect field components aligned with the direction of the internally-defined spin axis of the NV center. In this work we detect magnetic fields not only aligned with the NV axis but making an angle θ\thetaθ with it. This detection scheme clearly shows that NV centers can be used as θ2\theta^2θ2 sensors. We further demonstrate that the sensitivity of this sensor increases very rapidly with increasing magnetic field, diverging as the external field approaches a value pre-defined by NV center's internal parameters. We show the sensitivity of this θ2\theta^2θ2 sensor matches up perfectly with the theoretical predictions of the same, made in one of our previous works~\cite{Durso11}. These results show that NV centers can be excellent for making quantum nondemolition (QND) measurements on systems such as a harmonic oscillator, to probe the oscillators quantum behavior.
In modern-day quantum metrology, quantum sensors are widely employed to detect weak magnetic fields or nanoscale signals. Quantum devices, exploiting quantum coherence, are inevitably connected to physical constants and can achieve accuracy, repeatability, and precision approaching fundamental limits. As a result, these sensors have shown utility in a wide range of research domains spanning both science and technology. A rapidly emerging quantum sensing platform employs atomic-scale defects in crystals. In particular, magnetometry using nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color centers in diamond has garnered increasing interest. NV systems possess a combination of remarkable properties, optical addressability, long coherence times, and biocompatibility. Sensors based on NV centers excel in spatial resolution and magnetic sensitivity. These diamond-based sensors promise comparable combination of high spatial resolution and magnetic sensitivity without cryogenic operation. The above properties of NV magnetometers promise increasingly integrated quantum measurement technology, as a result, they have been extensively developed with various protocols and find use in numerous applications spanning materials characterization, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), condensed matter physics, paleomagnetism, neuroscience and living systems biology, and industrial vector magnetometry. In this chapter, NV centers are explored for magnetic sensing in a number of contexts. In general, we introduce novel regimes for magnetic-field probes with NV ensembles. Specifically, NV centers are developed for sensitive magnetometers for applications where microwaves (MWs) are prohibitively invasive and operations need to be carried out under zero ambient magnetic field. The primary goal of our discussion is to improve the utility of these NV center-based magnetometers.
Nitrogen Vacancy (NV) centers are point defects in diamond that allow magnetic field sensing based on Optically Detected Magnetic Resonance (ODMR). They are processed in ultrapure single-domain CVD grown diamond crystals and can be operated at room temperature. This results in solid-state sensors with a wide variety of applications. Ensemble of NV centers can be used to perform wide-field magnetic imaging with sensitivity in the nT range. Single NV centers can also be processed, which allows sensing at the atomic scale. This possibility, combined with its unique coherence properties, make NV center an ideal candidate for quantum sensing.
The recent decade has witnessed exciting developments in quantum science and technology. Quantum sensing is a rapidly growing branch, which exploits the fragility of quantum systems to detect small external signals. The extreme control at the single-atom level and the remarkably long coherence time of engineered quantum systems enable unprecedented sensitivity and precision, beating the performance of classical techniques. The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond is one of the most promising quantum sensors. Its unique advantages have attracted considerable attention, including a long spin coherence time throughout a broad temperature range, nanoscale resolution limited by the sensor-sample distance, convenient optical control of its spin states and remarkably versatile sensing capabilities. Its properties are well studied under a bias magnetic field oriented along its quantization axis. However, its sensing capabilities in the presence of an off-axis magnetic field are much less explored. My research aims to unlock the full potential of NV quantum sensor by developing new sensing modalities under a magnetic field acting perpendicular to the NV axis, and furthermore, integrating them into a scanning probe microscope. In this dissertation, I will report our progress toward building a scanning NV multimodal quantum imaging platform, which will open up exciting opportunities in measuring nanoscale phenomena. The first chapter provides an introduction to the background of quantum sensing with NV centers, followed by a discussion on its basic properties and established sensing techniques. The second and third chapters are dedicated to two experiments performed under a perpendicular magnetic field where traditional NV magnetometry based on the Zeeman effect fails. In the second chapter, I will introduce a new sensing strategy that uses the entanglement between the electron and nuclear spins to restore the magnetic field sensitivity under this unfavored condition. This allows us to sense small changes in the magnetic field angle relative to the NV axis, and to detect anisotropic magnetic noise in the local environment. In the third chapter, I will present our latest development of scanning NV electrometry, where a single NV at the apex of a diamond scanning probe images external alternating (AC) and direct (DC) electric fields with sub-100 nm resolution. In the last chapter, I will discuss our efforts on four experiments that were left unfinished. I will present the results we have achieved, analyze the challenges that we faced and propose potential solutions to overcome them.
Quantum sensors based on nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in diamond have been a central topic in the sensing community for more than a decade. The extraordinary properties at room temperature of the spin system in diamond have made it one of the most prominent quantum platforms for the development of commercial quantum sensors. In particular, the sensitivity of the electronic spin in NV centers has made diamond-based magnetic sensors of special interest for their potential application in medical, industrial or navigation solutions. However, the use of these sensors for universal vector magnetometry was constrained by the need for previous knowledge on the field being measured to fully exploit their benefits. In this work, we show a method to perform unconditional vector magnetometry without the need of external information on the magnetic field, based only on the spatial arrangement of the diamond and the microwave antenna combination. While previous NV-based vector magnetometry methods require partial knowledge of the magnetic field (e.g. a calibrated bias field), we exploit the possibilities of selecting particular directions of the spins in the diamond with elliptically polarized microwave fields. We prove that our method allows to estimate both magnitude and direction of external magnetic fields without further assumptions or constraints.
Precision measurements of electric current flow in motors and power converters is indispensable for efficient digital control by monitoring their energy use. Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in a crystalline diamond are promising candidates for sensitive magnetometry and electric current measurements. In a diamond quantum sensor with NV centers, the Zeeman splitting of the electron spin state of the NV center can be utilized to detect magnetic field. This is because the splitting of the spectral line is proportional to the external magnetic field strength, and the arbitrary constant of the gyromagnetic ratio is independent of both frequency and magnetic field. Then, the Zeeman splitting can be measured with optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) spectroscopy.
Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in a bulk diamond are often employed to realize measurement of multiple physical quantities, which depends on orientation information of NV axis. We report a fast and effective method to determine the orientation of NV axis with the aid of a static magnetic field. By measuring the optically detected magnetic resonance spectra, we can precisely extract the polar angle information between the NV axis and the known magnetic field. Combining with the polar angle information of different kinds of NV centers, we employ the Nelder–Mead algorithm to get the optimal solution of the orientation of NV axis. This method is simple and efficient, and is easily applied in NV-based quantum sensing.