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arXiv:2602.06077

Millimeter-scale rigid diamond probe for high sensitivity endoscopic-magnetometry applications

Jihongbo Shen, Heng Yuan, Hongyu Tao, Zekun Niu, Haoming Xu, Chentao Zhang, Chen Su, Zhuo Wang, Chen Zhang

physics.ins-detphysics.app-phphysics.opticsquant-phSubmitted Feb 4, 2026• Announced Feb 5, 2026
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Magnetometry based on diamond nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers has been extensively studied for applications requiring diverse capabilities, spanning from nanometer spatial resolution to subpicotesla sensitivity. Among various applications, diamond magnetometers can demonstrate high sensitivity magnetic sensing within millimeter-scale size for endoscopic applications. However, the trade-off between sensitivity and spatial resolution of diamond magnetometry makes it difficult to achieve such a probe. In this study, we present a millimeter-scale rigid diamond magnetometer probe with enhanced sensitivity via optimizing the optical design. By coupling the frustum diamond with the miniaturized compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) lens, we enhance the fluorescence collection efficiency by 37% within 4 mm diameter, and the achieved sensitivity is 200 pT/Hz1/2 based on the sample with the resonance linewidth of ~8 MHz. With this verified structure, endoscopes with mm-size probe and picotesla sensitivity can be projected for surgical and industrial applications in the future.

DOI
10.1016/j.optlastec.2026.114833
Comments
27 pages, 12 figures

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Magnetometry based on diamond nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers has been extensively studied for applications requiring diverse capabilities, spanning from nanometer spatial resolution to subpicotesla sensitivity. Among various applications, diamond magnetometers can demonstrate high sensitivity magnetic sensing within millimeter-scale size for endoscopic applications. However, the trade-off between sensitivity and spatial resolution of diamond magnetometry makes it difficult to achieve such a probe. In this study, we present a millimeter-scale rigid diamond magnetometer probe with enhanced sensitivity via optimizing the optical design. By coupling the frustum diamond with the miniaturized compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) lens, we enhance the fluorescence collection efficiency by 37% within 4 mm diameter, and the achieved sensitivity is 200 pT/Hz1/2 based on the sample with the resonance linewidth of ~8 MHz. With this verified structure, endoscopes with mm-size probe and picotesla sensitivity can be projected for surgical and industrial applications in the future.
Transitioning quantum magnetometry from laboratory environments to real-world applications has been limited by a persistent trade-off between sensor miniaturization and magnetic sensitivity. While bulky systems can achieve high sensitivity, endoscopic probes commonly suffer from inefficient fluorescence collection and reduced performance. Here we resolve this trade-off and present a miniaturized diamond quantum magnetometer with a 6 mm diameter endoscopic sensor head, achieving a magnetic-field sensitivity of 91 pT/sqrt(Hz) with a 2 kHz measurement bandwidth in a magnetically unshielded environment. The fluorescence collection bottleneck is overcome by separating excitation and collection into different cores of a fused multi-core fiber bundle, coupled to the diamond through a custom high-numerical-aperture micro-objective. A compact FPGA-based backend performs microwave control, lock-in detection and real-time resonance tracking, enabling robust operation during magnetic-field imaging. To demonstrate the practical utility of the miniaturized sensor, we image the magnetic field of a commercial lithium-ion pouch cell during charge and discharge and reconstruct depth-integrated current-density maps of the current flow. These results show that endoscopic diamond magnetometers can combine high sensitivity with a probe geometry suitable for confined, unshielded measurements, opening new avenues in battery technology and beyond.
A magnetic field sensor based on a fiber-optic integrated probe at the center of a nitrogen vacancy (NV) is proposed and demonstrated. Fiber optics are utilized to replace all conventional spatial optics while efficiently enabling laser excitation and fluorescence collection from diamond. Optical models were developed to study the fluorescence collection efficiency of diamond. The fiber-coupled probe was simulated and its efficiency was improved to 3.062% compared to the 0.607% fluorescence coupling efficiency of the fiber. The optical probe magnetic resonance (ODMR) phenomenon was successfully observed and significantly improved the magnetic field sensitivity to 5.3 nT/Hz1/2, which proved the feasibility and performance compared with the conventional confocal NV-centered magnetometer.
Diamond nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center ensemble magnetometer is a novel solid quantum magnetometer with high sensitivity and high spatial resolution, which can be used at normal temperature and pressure. However, the low fluorescence collection efficiency of the magnetometer in confocal optical system hinders further improvement in sensitivity. To solve the problem, based on silica microspheres, we propose a method to enhance the excitation and collection efficiency of NV center ensemble in massive diamond. Experimental results show, compared with the NV diamond magnetometer without microspheres, the photon collection efficiency of NV diamond magnetometer coated with a layer of microspheres is increased by 110%. Thus, the sensitivity of the NV center magnetometer is increased by 4 times to 5.3μT/√Hz.
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.
Abstract The ensemble of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond allows for the potential realization of the sensitive magnetometers by leveraging their excellent spin properties. However, the NV-based magnetometers are limited by their experimental magnetic field sensitivity owing to its inefficient photon collection. Moreover, they are a disadvantage to the reduced spatial resolution and excessive excitation power. To overcome these issues, we propose a ultra-sensitive diamond magnetometer based on nanocavities. The device structure can attain a high collective efficiency and enhance the photon emission intensity of the NV ensemble. This device can allow the efficient photon collection even when considering the positional distribution of the NV centers. Our theoretical analysis indicates that the minimum expected sensitivity is 60 fT/ H z . The proposed design can achieve a volume-normalized sensitivity of 0.92 aT/ H z c m − 3 along with the required power of 7 μW, both of which are superior to those of bulk diamond. The proposed approach offers a promising route towards highly sensitive and energy-efficient magnetometers.
Portable quantum sensors are crucial for developing practical quantum sensing and metrology applications. Fiberized nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamonds have emerged as one of the most promising candidates for compact quantum sensors. Nevertheless, due to the difficulty of coherently controlling the ensemble spin and noise suppression in a large volume, it often faces problems such as reduced sensitivity and narrowed bandwidth in integrated lensless applications. Here, we propose a fluorescence signal treatment method for NV spin ensemble manipulation by the exponential fitting of spin polarization processes, instead of integrating the photon emission. This enables spin state readout with a high signal-to-noise ratio and applies to the pulse sensing protocols for large-volume NV spins. Based on this, we further developed a fiberized diamond-based AC magnetometer. With an XY8-N dynamical decoupling pulse sequence, we demonstrated a T2-limited sensitivity of 8 pT/Hz and T1-limited frequency resolution of 90 Hz over a wide frequency band from 100 kHz to 3 MHz. This integrated diamond sensor leverages quantum coherence to achieve enhanced sensitivity in detecting AC magnetic fields, making it suitable for implementation in a compact and portable endoscopic sensor.