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arXiv:1802.09713 · Applied Physics Letters

Robust high-dynamic-range vector magnetometry with nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond

Hannah Clevenson, Linh Pham, Carson Teale, Kerry Johnson, Dirk Englund, Danielle Braje

Published Jun 18, 2018• 114 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We demonstrate a robust, scale-factor-free vector magnetometer, which uses a closed-loop frequency-locking scheme to simultaneously track Zeeman-split resonance pairs of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond. This technique offers a three-orders-of-magnitude increase in dynamic range compared to open-loop methodologies; is robust against fluctuations in temperature, resonance linewidth, and contrast; and allows for simultaneous interrogation of multiple transition frequencies. By directly detecting the resonance frequencies of NV centers oriented along each of the diamond's four tetrahedral crystallographic axes, we perform full vector reconstruction of an applied magnetic field.

DOI
10.1063/1.5034216

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We demonstrate a robust, scale-factor-free vector magnetometer, which uses a closed-loop frequency-locking scheme to simultaneously track Zeeman-split resonance pairs of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond. This technique offers a three-orders-of-magnitude increase in dynamic range compared to open-loop methodologies; is robust against fluctuations in temperature, resonance linewidth, and contrast; and allows for simultaneous interrogation of multiple transition frequencies. By directly detecting the resonance frequencies of NV centers oriented along each of the diamond's four tetrahedral crystallographic axes, we perform full vector reconstruction of an applied magnetic field.
Nitrogen vacancy (NV) center magnetometers offer theoretical advantages such as high sensitivity, wide dynamic range, and vector capability; however, achieving all these performance metrics simultaneously in a single device remains a significant challenge. Our study presents an NV-based vector magnetometry system optimized for high-sensitivity, wide-range magnetic field measurements to overcome this issue. Our approach utilizes a frequency-locking technique combined with frequency hopping, enabling robust tracking of resonance frequencies over a wide magnetic field range via a high-speed direct digital synthesizer. We achieve real-time vector field reconstruction with high temporal resolution by continuously monitoring the resonance frequency. The proposed system demonstrates significant improvements in dynamic range, sensitivity, and tracking speed, positioning it as an essential tool for a variety of quantum sensing applications.
Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond provide a solid-state platform for quantum sensing. While optically detected magnetic resonance techniques offer high sensitivity, their reliance on microwaves introduces heating and stray electromagnetic fields that can perturb nearby samples. Optical approaches based on cross-relaxation between differently oriented NV centers remove this constraint but have so far required stringent alignment of the external field with crystallographic axes, restricting their practicality. Here we introduce a general framework for microwave-free vector magnetometry at near-zero field that leverages Bayesian inference to extract both the magnetic field vector and the NV orientation directly from photoluminescence maps. An analytical model of cross-relaxation resonances enables efficient inference under arbitrary field and orientation configurations, while naturally incorporating the discrete degeneracies of the NV symmetry. We experimentally demonstrate robust orientation determination and vector-field reconstruction, establishing a general route toward compact and alignment-free NV magnetometers for practical sensing applications.
The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond has become a widely used platform for quantum sensing. The four NV axes in monocrystalline diamond specifically allow for vector magnetometry, with magnetic-field sensitivities reaching down to fT / Hz . The current literature primarily focuses on improving the precision of NV-based magnetometers. Here, we study the experimental accuracy of determining the magnetic field from measured spin-resonance frequencies via solving the NV Hamiltonian. We derive exact, analytical, and fast-to-compute formulas for calculating resonance frequencies from a known magnetic-field vector, and vice versa (formulas for calculating the magnetic-field vector from measured resonance frequencies). Additionally, the accuracy of often-used approximations is assessed. Finally, we promote using the Voigt profile as a fit model to determine the linewidth of measured resonances accurately. An open-source Python package accompanies our analysis.
An ensemble of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond is an attractive device to detect small magnetic fields. In particular, by exploiting the fact that the NV center can be aligned along one of four different axes due to ${C}_{3\ensuremath{\nu}}$ symmetry, it is possible to extract information concerning vector magnetic fields. However, in the conventional scheme, low readout contrasts of the NV centers significantly decrease the sensitivity of the vector-magnetic-field sensing. Here, we propose a way to improve the sensitivity of the vector-magnetic-field sensing of the NV centers using multifrequency control. Since the Zeeman energy of the NV centers depends on the direction of the axis, we can independently control the four types of NV centers using microwave pulses with different frequencies. This allows us to use every NV center for the vector field detection in parallel, which effectively increases the readout contrast. Our results pave the way to realize a practical diamond-based vector field sensor.
We present a novel method for full vector magnetometry using nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers. In contrast to conventional optically detected magnetic resonance techniques, our method employs two distinct broadband microwave pulses and measures them after transmission through the NV sensor medium, thus capturing the line splitting of the ground state triplet due to the Zeeman effect. Two orthogonally polarized microwave pulses allow resolving all magnetic field components independently by reading out differently oriented NV centers. Simulated data is analyzed using deep neural networks, whose efficacy we expect to translate very well to experiments. Our method yields sensitivities between 5 pT/Hz5~\mathrm{pT}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}5 pT/Hz​ and 100 pT/Hz100~\mathrm{pT}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}100 pT/Hz​ across different magnetic field vector components, while achieving approximately nT\mathrm{nT}nT accuracy at a signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio of 70 dB70~\mathrm{dB}70 dB. By being capable of accurately measuring magnetic fields down to 25 μT25~\mathrm{μT}25 μT, the need for a bias field beyond Earth's magnetic field is eliminated.
Sensing vector magnetic fields is important to many applications in fundamental physics, bioimaging, and materials science. Sensors exploiting nitrogen-vacancy (N-VVV) centers typically interrogate N-VVV ensembles oriented in all directions, thwarting nanoscale spatial resolution. Utilizing the level anticrossing in the triplet ground state, the authors demonstrate a $m\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}i\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}c\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}r\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}o\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}w\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}a\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}v\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}e\ensuremath{-}f\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}r\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}e\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}e$ vector magnetometer that simultaneously measures all Cartesian components of the field, offering wide-band operation and high, equal sensitivity in all directions. This technique may work for single N-VVV centers as well as ensembles, extending vector measurements to the nanoscale, at ambient temperatures.