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Quantum Nanophotonic Materials, Devices, and Systems

Quantum sensing of nanophotonic spin density

Farid Kalhor, Li‐Ping Yang, Leif Bauer, Zubin Jacob

Published Aug 3, 2021• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

Photonic spin density (PSD) in the near-field gives rise to exotic phenomena such as photonic skyrmions, optical spin-momentum locking and unidirectional topological edge waves. Experimental investigation of these phenomena requires a nanoscale probe that directly interacts with PSD. Here, we propose and demonstrate that the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond can be used as a quantum sensor for detecting the spinning nature of photons. This room temperature magnetometer can measure the local polarization of light in ultra-subwavelength volumes through photon-spin-induced virtual transitions. The direct detection of light's spin density at the nanoscale using NV centers in diamond opens a new frontier for studying exotic phases of photons as well as future on-chip applications.

DOI
10.1117/12.2596116

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Photonic spin density (PSD) in the near-field gives rise to exotic phenomena such as photonic skyrmions, optical spin-momentum locking and unidirectional topological edge waves. Experimental investigation of these phenomena requires a nanoscale probe that directly interacts with PSD. Here, we propose and demonstrate that the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond can be used as a quantum sensor for detecting the spinning nature of photons. This room temperature magnetometer can measure the local polarization of light in ultra-subwavelength volumes through photon-spin-induced virtual transitions. The direct detection of light's spin density at the nanoscale using NV centers in diamond opens a new frontier for studying exotic phases of photons as well as future on-chip applications.
Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond have emerged as promising room-temperature quantum sensors for probing condensed matter phenomena ranging from spin liquids, two-dimensional (2D) magnetic materials, and magnons to hydrodynamic flow of current.Here we propose and demonstrate that the nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond can be used as a quantum sensor for detecting the photonic spin density, the spatial distribution of light's spin angular momentum.We exploit a single spin qubit on an atomic force microscope tip to probe the spinning field of an incident Gaussian light beam.The spinning field of light induces an effective static magnetic field in the single spin qubit probe.We perform room-temperature sensing using Bloch sphere operations driven by a microwave field (XY8 protocol).This nanoscale quantum magnetometer can measure the local polarization of light in ultra-sub-wavelength volumes.We also put forth a rigorous theory of the experimentally measured phase change using the NV center Hamiltonian and perturbation theory involving only virtual photon transitions.The direct detection of the photonic spin density at the nanoscale using NV centers in diamond opens interesting quantum metrological avenues for studying exotic phases of photons, nanoscale properties of structured light as well as future on-chip applications in spin quantum electrodynamics.
Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond have emerged as promising room temperature quantum sensors for probing condensed matter phenomena ranging from spin liquids, 2D magnetic materials, and magnons to hydrodynamic flow of current. Here, we propose and demonstrate that the NV center in diamond can be used as a quantum sensor for detecting the photonic spin density. We demonstrate this probe both for the case of a single NV center and an ensemble of NV centers. The spinning field of light induces an effective static magnetic field in the spin qubit probe. We perform room-temperature sensing using Bloch sphere operations driven by a microwave field (XY8 protocol) to detect the photonic spin density induced effective static magnetic field.
Abstract Photonic spin texture (PST), the spatial distribution of the spin angular momentum of light, is connected to unique properties of light, such as optical skyrmions and topological optical N-invariants. There has been recent progress on the generation and manipulation of PST using various methodologies. However, a challenge remains for the sub-wavelength characterization of PST. Here, we demonstrate nitrogen–vacancy (NV) centers in diamond as nanoscale quantum sensors for imaging the PST of a beam with orbital angular momentum. Leveraging the coherent interaction between photon spin and NV center electron spin at cryogenic temperature (77 K), and using the Hahn-echo magnetometry technique, we experimentally demonstrate the imprinting of the PST on the quantum phase shift of NV centers. Our work can lead to the development of a quantum imaging platform capable of characterization of the spin texture of light at sub-wavelength scales.