Abstract This paper proposes an approach for non-intrusively detecting digital microwave information by all-optical means. The measurement of the digital information was realized by taking advantage of the spin property and optical readability of the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers sensor. We convert microwave-carried information into fluorescence signals using diamond NV centers, and the fluorescence signals are then transformed into corresponding electrical signals using an avalanche photodiode. The performance of the system is experimentally evaluated. The time resolution for digital information detection is up to 50 μs, and the minimum detectable power is −2.04 dBm. This study indicates that the proposed method is feasible to accurately detect the digital information and has tremendous potential for the development of digital information processing by all-optical techniques.
Abstract This paper proposes an approach for non-intrusively detecting digital microwave information by all-optical means. The measurement of the digital information was realized by taking advantage of the spin property and optical readability of the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers sensor. We convert microwave-carried information into fluorescence signals using diamond NV centers, and the fluorescence signals are then transformed into corresponding electrical signals using an avalanche photodiode. The performance of the system is experimentally evaluated. The time resolution for digital information detection is up to 50 μs, and the minimum detectable power is −2.04 dBm. This study indicates that the proposed method is feasible to accurately detect the digital information and has tremendous potential for the development of digital information processing by all-optical techniques.
Abstract The efficient detection of digital signals plays a vital role in optimizing the reliability and stability of communication systems. This paper demonstrates a method to optically measure digital signals based on solid‐state quantum spin. The digital signals are non‐intrusively characterized by taking advantage of the optical readability of the spin states of the nitrogen‐vacancy (NV) centers array. Meanwhile, the resonance frequencies of optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) spectra are spatially encoded by means of an external magnetic field gradient, thereby realizing the simultaneous acquisition of three‐channel digital signals. Over a continuous detection bandwidth of 258 MHz, digital signals can be detected with a time resolution of 3 ms and a minimum signal strength of 0 dBm. Afterward, the ability of this system to capture digital signals is further substantiated by measuring signals in other channels. This proposal is competent for the simultaneous analysis of multi‐channel signals in real‐time and provides a valuable reference for radio spectrum monitoring, and signal intelligence reconnaissance.
This study introduces a novel method for the simultaneous detection of microwave sensor power and temperature, leveraging nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers as a robust quantum system. Through precise measurement of the optical detection magnetic resonance contrast in NV centers, the microwave power is accurately determined. Furthermore, the temperature of the sensor is obtained by monitoring the variations in zero-field splitting and thorough spectral analysis. This method enables the efficient real-time acquisition of synchronized data on both microwave power and temperature from the sensor, facilitating concurrent monitoring without the necessity of additional sensing devices. Finally, we verified that the magnetic sensitivity of the system is approximately 1.2 nT/Hz1/2, and the temperature sensitivity is around 0.38 mK/Hz1/2. The minimum resolution of microwave power is about 20 nW. The experimental results demonstrate that this quantum measurement technique provides stable and accurate data across a wide range of microwave power and temperature conditions. These findings indicate substantial potential for this technique in advanced applications such as aerospace, medical diagnostics, and high-frequency communications. Future studies will aim to extend the industrial applicability of this method by refining quantum control techniques within NV center systems.
One of the promising solid-state quantum sensors is nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond which can maintain quantum state at room temperature and under atmospheric pressure condition. Further improvement of sensitivity of the sensor is needed to detect the magnetic field from the brain. Noise reduction and simplified system are key techniques especially for the practical use of highly sensitive DC magnetic sensor. In this study, we devised a digital filtering detection method without synchronization between detector and modulator which is a similar noise reduction effect as a lock-in detection technique. We implemented the detection method for the quantum diamond sensor system with the large sensor volume [1]. The Lock-in detection technique is a typical high sensitivity technique for DC magnetic measurement. There are several different implementations of lock-in detection technique for the quantum diamond sensor including microwave modulation, magnetic field modulation, and laser modulation. However, it is a challenging task to obtain high magnetic sensitivity with a compact sensor module because these lock-in detection techniques require a lock-in amplifier or synchronization system. We devised a digital filtering detection method which is an alternative method to the lock-in detection technique. Fluorescence from the NV center is modulated by frequency modulated microwave during optical detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) measurement. The fluorescence is analyzed by digital signal processing which achieves a similar noise reduction effect as a lock-in detection technique. Our method relies on a fact that ODMR converts frequency modulation to amplitude modulation. Thus, our method is applicable not only to the NV center system but also another color center system. This work was supported by MEXT Q-LEAP, CAO PRISM, Japan. [1] Y. Masuyama et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 89, 125007 (2018).
Quantum sensors encompass a diverse class of devices that exploit quantum coherence to detect weak or nanoscale signals. As their behavior is tied to physical constants, quantum sensors can achieve accuracy, repeatability, and precision approaching fundamental limits [1, 2]. As a result, these sensors have shown utility in a wide range of applications in both science and engineering leading to innovations. Among many solid-state spin systems, nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamonds have attracted considerable attention as a leading platform in many fields of quantum technologies, from quantum sensing to information processing and communication applications. They have superior physical properties, and their quantum coherence is preserved even at room temperature. The energy levels of NV centers are sensitive to magnetic fields, electric fields, strain, and temperature, and the spatial resolution is scalable from nanometers to millimeters. Therefore, diamond quantum sensors are distinctive sensors with multimodality and span scalable application fields. To realize an ideal quantum sensor for applications, the technical challenges in the sensor materials and the quantum control techniques, such as coherent microwave spin manipulation, effective optical spin-state initialization, and readout, have been developed. This chapter briefly explains the sensing principle using NV centers and then introduces sensor systems for biomedical applications, and monitoring of batteries for electric vehicles and internal power devices.
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.
Introduction Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond are promising solid-state quantum sensors. The sensor can potentially monitor the real-time magnetic field at room-temperature toward the brain-machine interface. One of the biggest challenges is to implement a highly sensitive sensor in a compact system. There are two major ways to achieve it. An analog signal processing method with a lock-in amplifier is fast to obtain the signal, but it increases the size of the sensor system. The digital signal processing method with the Fourier transform is simple, but it needs more computational resources. Reducing computational resources with the simple system is an important task for monitoring a real-time magnetic field. In this study, we demonstrate an alternative method of digital signal processing with less computational resources than the Fourier transform. The computational time of the method to compute the signal from n points of data is O(n), whereas the time with Fourier transform is O(n log n). Method and Result We confirm our method with a large detection volume of the ensemble NV centers. The microwave and optical systems used in our experiment are shown in Fig. 1. The diamond sample containing NV centers was placed between the microwave resonator and a compound parabolic concentrator1. We used a coplanar waveguide resonator (CWR) with a wide center electrode for strong and uniform microwave irradiation2. The power of microwave with frequency modulation is 25 dBm before the CWR. The 300 mW laser beam to the diamond was focused with a beam diameter of about 30 μm. The fluorescence from the NV centers was collected through the compound parabolic concentrator and detected using a photodiode. The detected signal of the photodiode is analyzed by digital signal processing. The method obtains the result using a digital filter that effectively becomes a sinc filter using the orthogonality of trigonometric functions by multiplication of the acquired data by a trigonometric function. Figures 2 shows continuous-wave optical detected magnetic resonance (CW-ODMR) spectrum using the digital signal processing with a different modulation frequency of the microwave. The maximum slope and the noise of the signal become smaller with increasing the modulation frequency for different reasons. The low transition rate between quantum states of the NV center reduces the maximum slope for high modulation frequency. While the noise becomes smaller for high modulation frequency. We evaluate the maximum signal slope (Fig. 3) and noise level of the spectrum (Fig. 4). We found the reduction of the noise is greater than the reduction of the maximum slope. This work was supported by MEXT Quantum Leap Flagship Program (MEXT Q-LEAP) Grant Number JPMXS0118067395.