Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Physical Review A

Wideband microwave magnetometry using a nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond

Rui Li, Chengjie Wang, Cheng Zhi, Pengfei Wang, Ya Wang, Chang‐Kui Duan, Hangyu Liu, Fazhan Shi, Jiangfeng Du

Published Jun 24, 2019• 5 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Microwave magnetometry is essential to a variety of modern electronic techniques, most notably integrated circuits. The nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond has shown the ability of nanoscale resolution for the microwave magnetic field measurement and imaging. However, the characterization of the wideband magnetic field remains a challenge. Here we experimentally demonstrated a wideband microwave magnetometry with an off-resonance protocol based on the Bloch-Siegert shift effect. The off-resonance microwave magnetic field shifts the energy level of the nitrogen-vacancy center. It results in a phase accumulation during the evolution of the superposition state of the quantum sensor. According to this effect, by optimizing the evolution time, we experimentally verified the bandwidth widening of an order of magnitude compared with the Rabi oscillation, i.e., on-resonance method with an acceptable decrease of the sensitivity. In addition, we extracted the microwave frequency with a two-qubit system, which consists of a nitrogen-vacancy center and a nearby $^{13}\mathrm{C}$ nucleus. This approach enables the building of a wideband and potentially nanoscale microwave magnetometry to allow various potential applications, such as electronic circuits development.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.99.062328

Related papers

Demonstration of highly sensitive wideband microwave sensing using ensemble nitrogen-vacancy centers

Kensuke Ogawa, Shunsuke Nishimura, Kento Sasaki +1 more

Microwave magnetometry is essential for the advancement of microwave technologies. We demonstrate a broadband microwave sensing protocol using the AC Zeeman effect with ensemble nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond. A widefield microscope can visualize the frequency characteristics of the microwave resonator and the spatial distribution of off-resonant microwave amplitude. Furthermore, by combining this method with dynamical decoupling, we achieve the microwave amplitude sensitivity of 5.2 μT/Hz, which is 7.7 times better than 40.2 μT/Hz obtained using the protocol in previous research over a sensing volume of 2.77 μm×2.77 μm×30 nm. Our achievement is a concrete step in adapting ensemble NV centers for wideband and widefield microwave imaging.

arXiv:2311.15196•Applied Physics Letters•Nov 20, 2023•7 citations

Magnetometry with broadband microwave fields in nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond

Arezoo Afshar, Andrew H. Proppe, Noah Lupu-Gladstein +3 more

Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond are optically addressable and versatile light-matter interfaces with practical application in magnetic field sensing, offering the ability to operate at room temperature and reach sensitivities below pT/$\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$. We propose an approach to simultaneously probe all of the magnetically sensitive states using a broadband microwave field and demonstrate that it can be used to measure the external DC magnetic field strength with sensitivities on the order of 10~pT/$\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$. We develop tools for analyzing the temporal signatures in the transmitted broadband microwaves to estimate the magnetic field, comparing maximum likelihood estimation based on minimizing the Kullback-Leibler divergence to various neural network models, and both methods independently reach practical sensitivities. These results are achieved without optimizing parameters such as the bandwidth, and shape of the probing microwave field such that further improvements in sensitivity can be envisioned. Our results motivate novel implementations of NV-based magnetic sensors with the potential for vectorial magnetic field detection at 1-10 kHz update rates and improved sensitivities without requiring a bias magnetic field.

arXiv:2510.11720•Physical Review A•May 15, 2026•1 citation

Spectral analysis of amplitude-modulated microwave signals with nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond

Yang Zhitao, Feifei Zhou, Jianghang Yu +4 more

Microwave (MW) magnetometry utilizing nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond offers a broad, tunable detection bandwidth enabled by the magnetic-field-dependent electron spin resonances (ESR) of the NV centers. In this work, we present and experimentally demonstrate two NV-based protocols for spectral analysis of amplitude-modulated (MW) signals. The first protocol employs the NV center as a bandpass filter and reconstructs frequency-domain information of MW signals by sweeping the MW carrier frequency. The second protocol achieves optical imaging of the MW spectrum using an NV-based quantum spectrum analyzer, wherein a magnetic field gradient spatially maps the ESR frequencies of the NV centers, enabling parallel detection of multiple spectral components over a wide instantaneous bandwidth. Both protocols show results that agree well with reference measurements from a classical spectrum analyzer. Our approaches extend the application of spin-based quantum sensors to the field of modern communications and can be adapted for other spin-based quantum sensors.

Review of Scientific Instruments•Feb 1, 2026•0 citations

Using a single nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond to detect microwave magnetic field vectors at resonant frequency

Mengyuan Cai, Changfeng Weng, Yuqing Zhu +3 more

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.

Applied Physics Letters•Apr 8, 2024•4 citations

Wideband microwave resonator for NV center vector magnetometry

S. V. Bolshedvorskii, E. A. Koreshin, V. V. Soshenko +10 more

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 \[{1.2\text{ nT}}/{\sqrt{\text{Hz}}}\;\]. While this is not a record sensitivity for diamond-based magnetometers, this device occupies its own niche as a compact hand-held magnetometer.

quant-pharXiv:2610.13379•Oct 12, 2026

Novel Magnetic-Sensing Modalities with Nitrogen-Vacancy Centers in Diamond

Huijie Zheng, Arne Wickenbrock, Georgios Chatzidrosos +16 more

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.

IntechOpen eBooks•Feb 8, 2021•1 citation
Microwave magnetometry is essential to a variety of modern electronic techniques, most notably integrated circuits. The nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond has shown the ability of nanoscale resolution for the microwave magnetic field measurement and imaging. However, the characterization of the wideband magnetic field remains a challenge. Here we experimentally demonstrated a wideband microwave magnetometry with an off-resonance protocol based on the Bloch-Siegert shift effect. The off-resonance microwave magnetic field shifts the energy level of the nitrogen-vacancy center. It results in a phase accumulation during the evolution of the superposition state of the quantum sensor. According to this effect, by optimizing the evolution time, we experimentally verified the bandwidth widening of an order of magnitude compared with the Rabi oscillation, i.e., on-resonance method with an acceptable decrease of the sensitivity. In addition, we extracted the microwave frequency with a two-qubit system, which consists of a nitrogen-vacancy center and a nearby 13C^{13}\mathrm{C}13C nucleus. This approach enables the building of a wideband and potentially nanoscale microwave magnetometry to allow various potential applications, such as electronic circuits development.
Microwave magnetometry is essential for the advancement of microwave technologies. We demonstrate a broadband microwave sensing protocol using the AC Zeeman effect with ensemble nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond. A widefield microscope can visualize the frequency characteristics of the microwave resonator and the spatial distribution of off-resonant microwave amplitude. Furthermore, by combining this method with dynamical decoupling, we achieve the microwave amplitude sensitivity of 5.2 μT/Hz, which is 7.7 times better than 40.2 μT/Hz obtained using the protocol in previous research over a sensing volume of 2.77 μm×2.77 μm×30 nm. Our achievement is a concrete step in adapting ensemble NV centers for wideband and widefield microwave imaging.
Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond are optically addressable and versatile light-matter interfaces with practical application in magnetic field sensing, offering the ability to operate at room temperature and reach sensitivities below pT/Hz\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}Hz​. We propose an approach to simultaneously probe all of the magnetically sensitive states using a broadband microwave field and demonstrate that it can be used to measure the external DC magnetic field strength with sensitivities on the order of 10~pT/Hz\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}Hz​. We develop tools for analyzing the temporal signatures in the transmitted broadband microwaves to estimate the magnetic field, comparing maximum likelihood estimation based on minimizing the Kullback-Leibler divergence to various neural network models, and both methods independently reach practical sensitivities. These results are achieved without optimizing parameters such as the bandwidth, and shape of the probing microwave field such that further improvements in sensitivity can be envisioned. Our results motivate novel implementations of NV-based magnetic sensors with the potential for vectorial magnetic field detection at 1-10 kHz update rates and improved sensitivities without requiring a bias magnetic field.
Microwave (MW) magnetometry utilizing nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond offers a broad, tunable detection bandwidth enabled by the magnetic-field-dependent electron spin resonances (ESR) of the NV centers. In this work, we present and experimentally demonstrate two NV-based protocols for spectral analysis of amplitude-modulated (MW) signals. The first protocol employs the NV center as a bandpass filter and reconstructs frequency-domain information of MW signals by sweeping the MW carrier frequency. The second protocol achieves optical imaging of the MW spectrum using an NV-based quantum spectrum analyzer, wherein a magnetic field gradient spatially maps the ESR frequencies of the NV centers, enabling parallel detection of multiple spectral components over a wide instantaneous bandwidth. Both protocols show results that agree well with reference measurements from a classical spectrum analyzer. Our approaches extend the application of spin-based quantum sensors to the field of modern communications and can be adapted for other spin-based quantum sensors.
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.
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.
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.