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Nature Communications

High-resolution vector microwave magnetometry based on solid-state spins in diamond

Pengfei Wang, Zhenheng Yuan, Pu Huang, Xing Rong, Mengqi Wang, Xiangkun Xu, Chang‐Kui Duan, Chenyong Ju, Fazhan Shi, Jiangfeng Du

Published Mar 23, 2015• 147 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The measurement of the microwave field is crucial for many developments in microwave technology and related applications. However, measuring microwave fields with high sensitivity and spatial resolution under ambient conditions remains elusive. In this work, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a scheme to measure both the strength and orientation of the microwave magnetic field by utilizing the quantum coherent dynamics of nitrogen vacancy centres in diamond. An angular resolution of 5.7 mrad and a sensitivity of 1.0 μT Hz(-1/2) are achieved at a microwave frequency of 2.6000 GHz, and the microwave magnetic field vectors generated by a copper wire are precisely reconstructed. The solid-state microwave magnetometry with high resolution and wide frequency range that can work under ambient conditions proposed here enables unique potential applications over other state-of-art microwave magnetometry.

DOI
10.1038/ncomms7631

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•Jan 24, 2025•0 citations
The measurement of the microwave field is crucial for many developments in microwave technology and related applications. However, measuring microwave fields with high sensitivity and spatial resolution under ambient conditions remains elusive. In this work, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a scheme to measure both the strength and orientation of the microwave magnetic field by utilizing the quantum coherent dynamics of nitrogen vacancy centres in diamond. An angular resolution of 5.7 mrad and a sensitivity of 1.0 μT Hz(-1/2) are achieved at a microwave frequency of 2.6000 GHz, and the microwave magnetic field vectors generated by a copper wire are precisely reconstructed. The solid-state microwave magnetometry with high resolution and wide frequency range that can work under ambient conditions proposed here enables unique potential applications over other state-of-art microwave magnetometry.
This study introduces a method for reconstructing vector microwave magnetic fields using a single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in locally strong effective fields with two different orientations in diamond, without the previously required external magnetic field. Due to the varying orientations of the effective fields, NV centers exhibit two distinct sets of switchable ground states. The resonant Rabi oscillations of an NV center in these two distinct states were utilized to reconstruct vector microwave magnetic fields. Remarkably, this technique achieves an angular resolution of 0.02 mrad/Hz. Overcoming the limitations inherent in previous practices of using NV ensembles, this breakthrough has the potential to substantially enhance both the spatial resolution and the sensitivity of microwave magnetic field imaging, a meaningful development for various scientific and technological applications.
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.
The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color center in diamond has found applications in magnetometry across various geometrical scales. In particular, vector magnetometry using hand-held devices with low power consumption is of interest for mobile and geological applications. However, such a device requires efficient driving of the four different orientations of the NV center, thus placing demands on a broadband microwave resonator that provides a uniform and highly insensitive microwave magnetic field at the resonance frequencies of the NV centers. Here, we propose a unique planar resonator design that enables efficient driving of all four orientations of NV color centers over a 100 MHz range with only 0.5 W of microwave input power and 250 mW of laser power, allowing vector magnetic field measurements. Using the planar resonator to drive NV centers in diamond, a compact vector magnetometer was fabricated and experimentally studied. The sensitivity of the device is about 1.2 nT/Hz  {1.2\text{ nT}}/{\sqrt{\text{Hz}}}\;1.2 nT/Hz​. While this is not a record sensitivity for diamond-based magnetometers, this device occupies its own niche as a compact hand-held magnetometer.
Quantum systems composed of solid-state electronic spins can be sensitive detectors of narrowband magnetic fields. A prominent example is the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond, which has been employed for magnetic spectroscopy with high spatial and spectral resolution. However, NV-diamond spectroscopy protocols are typically based on dynamical decoupling sequences, which are limited to low-frequency signals ( ≲ 20 MHz) due to the technical requirements on microwave (MW) pulses used to manipulate NV electronic spins. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate a high-resolution magnetic spectroscopy protocol that integrates a quantum frequency mixing (QFM) effect in a dense NV ensemble with coherently averaged synchronized readout (CASR) to provide both a wide range of signal frequency detection and sub-Hz spectral resolution. We assess the sensitivity of this QFM-CASR protocol across a frequency range of 10 MHz to 4 GHz. By measuring the spectra of multi-frequency signals near 0.6, 2.4 and 4 GHz, we demonstrate sub-Hz spectral resolution with a nT-scale noise floor for the target signal, and precise phase measurement with error < 1 ∘ . Compared to state-of-the-art NV-diamond techniques for high-resolution magnetic spectroscopy, the QFM-CASR protocol extends the signal frequency range by more than an order of magnitude, enabling applications in radio frequency (RF) and MW signal microscopy and analysis, as well as tesla-scale nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy of small samples.
Quantum sensing of low-frequency magnetic fields using nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center ensembles has been demonstrated in multiple experiments with sensitivities as low as $\sim1pT/1 pT/1pT/\sqrt{\text{Hz}}.Todate,however,demonstrationsofhigh−frequencymagnetometryintheGHzregimewithNVdiamondareordersofmagnitudelesssensitive,abovethenT/. To date, however, demonstrations of high-frequency magnetometry in the GHz regime with NV diamond are orders of magnitude less sensitive, above the nT/.Todate,however,demonstrationsofhigh−frequencymagnetometryintheGHzregimewithNVdiamondareordersofmagnitudelesssensitive,abovethenT/\sqrt{\text{Hz}}$ level. Here we adapt for microwave frequencies techniques that have enabled high-performance, low-frequency quantum sensors. Using a custom-grown NV-enriched diamond combined with a noise cancellation scheme designed for high-frequency sensing, we demonstrate a Rabi-sequence-based magnetometer able to detect microwave fields near 2.87 GHz with a record sensitivity of 3.4 pT/Hz\sqrt{\textrm{Hz}}Hz​. We demonstrate both amplitude and phase sensing and project tunability over a 300 MHz frequency range. This result increases the viability of NV ensembles to serve as microwave circuitry imagers and near-field probes of antennas.
Abstract Quantum systems composed of solid-state electronic spins can be sensitive detectors of narrowband magnetic fields. A prominent example is the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond, which has been employed for magnetic spectroscopy with high spatial and spectral resolution. However, NV-diamond spectroscopy protocols are typically based on dynamical decoupling sequences, which are limited to low-frequency signals (≲ 20 MHz) due to the technical requirements on microwave (MW) pulses used to manipulate NV electronic spins. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate a high-resolution magnetic spectroscopy protocol that integrates a quantum frequency mixing (QFM) effect in a dense NV ensemble with coherently averaged synchronized readout (CASR) to provide both a wide range of signal frequency detection and sub-Hz spectral resolution. We assess the sensitivity of this QFM-CASR protocol across a frequency range of 10 MHz to 4 GHz. By measuring the spectra of multi-frequency signals near 0.6, 2.4 and 4 GHz, we demonstrate sub-Hz spectral resolution with a nT-scale noise floor for the target signal, and precise phase measurement with error <1°. Compared to state-of-the-art NV-diamond techniques for narrowband magnetic spectroscopy, the QFM-CASR protocol greatly extends the detectable frequency range, enabling applications in high-frequency radio frequency (RF) and MW signal microscopy and analysis, as well as tesla-scale nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy of small samples.