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Advanced Optical Materials

Magnetic Steganography Based on Wide‐Field Diamond Quantum Microscopy (Advanced Optical Materials 24/2025)

Jungbae Yoon, Jugyeong Chung, Hyunjun Jang, Ji Eun Jung, Yuhan Lee, Chulki Kim, Nojoon Myoung, Donghun Lee

Published Aug 1, 2025• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Wide-Field Quantum Microscopy This cover image illustrates magnetic steganography using Nitrogen vacancy defects inside diamonds. Magnetic graphics, including pixel art and QR codes, are produced using magnetic materials and obscured behind patterns manufactured using non-magnetic materials, which were unveiled through widefield quantum microscopy. Furthermore, manipulating the electron spin of NV with dual microwave fields enhanced imaging speed by a factor of three. More details can be found in article 2501161 by Jungbae Yoon, Donghun Lee, and co-workers.

DOI
10.1002/adom.70178

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Wide-Field Quantum Microscopy This cover image illustrates magnetic steganography using Nitrogen vacancy defects inside diamonds. Magnetic graphics, including pixel art and QR codes, are produced using magnetic materials and obscured behind patterns manufactured using non-magnetic materials, which were unveiled through widefield quantum microscopy. Furthermore, manipulating the electron spin of NV with dual microwave fields enhanced imaging speed by a factor of three. More details can be found in article 2501161 by Jungbae Yoon, Donghun Lee, and co-workers.
Abstract Magnetic steganography using wide‐field quantum microscopy based on diamond nitrogen‐vacancy (NV) centers is experimentally demonstrated. The method offers magnetic imaging capable of revealing concealed information otherwise invisible with conventional optical measurements. For a proof‐of‐principle demonstration of magnetic steganography, micrometer structures designed as pixel arts, barcodes, and QR codes are fabricated using mixtures of magnetic and non‐magnetic materials: Ni and Au. Three different imaging modes based on the changes in frequency, linewidth, and contrast of the NV's electron spin resonance are compared and find that the last mode offers the best quality for reconstructing hidden magnetic images. By simultaneous driving of the NV's qutrit states with two independent microwave fields, the imaging time is expedited by a factor of three. This work shows potential applications of quantum magnetic imaging in the field of image steganography.
Widefield quantum microscopy based on nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond has emerged as a powerful technique for quantitative mapping of magnetic fields with a sub-micrometer resolution. However, the accuracy of the technique has not been characterized in detail so far. Here, we show that optical aberrations in the imaging system may cause large systematic errors in the measured quantity beyond trivial blurring. We introduce a simple theoretical framework to model these effects, which extends the concept of a point spread function to the domain of spectral imaging. Using this model, the magnetic field imaging of test magnetic samples is simulated under various scenarios, and the resulting errors are quantified. We then apply the model to previously published data, show that apparent magnetic anomalies can be explained by the presence of optical aberrations, and demonstrate a post-processing technique to retrieve the source quantity with improved accuracy. This work presents a guide to predict and mitigate aberration induced artifacts in quantitative NV-based widefield imaging and in spectral imaging more generally.
Wide-field imaging of magnetic signals using ensembles of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond has garnered increasing interest due to its combination of micron-scale resolution, millimeter-scale field of view, and compatibility with diverse samples from across the physical and life sciences. Recently, wide-field NV magnetic imaging based on the Ramsey protocol has achieved uniform and enhanced sensitivity compared to conventional measurements. Here, we integrate the Ramsey-based protocol with spin-bath driving to extend the NV spin dephasing time and improve magnetic sensitivity. We also employ a high-speed camera to enable dynamic wide-field magnetic imaging. We benchmark the utility of this quantum diamond microscope (QDM) by imaging magnetic fields produced from a fabricated wire phantom. Over a 270 × 270 μm2 field of view, a median per-pixel magnetic sensitivity of 4.1(1) nT /Hz is realized with a spatial resolution ≲ 10 μm and sub-millisecond temporal resolution. Importantly, the spatial magnetic noise floor can be reduced to the picotesla scale by time-averaging and signal modulation, which enables imaging of a magnetic-field pattern with a peak-to-peak amplitude difference of about 300 pT. Finally, we discuss potential new applications of this dynamic QDM in studying biomineralization and electrically active cells.
We demonstrate widefield magnetic imaging of current flow in hydrogen terminated diamond field effect transistors (FETs) through in-substrate nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers. Hydrogen termination of the diamond surface induces a two dimensional hole gas (2DHG), while an ensemble of near surface NV centers located $ \sim 1~μm$ below the surface enables noninvasive magnetic imaging of current flow with micrometer scale spatial resolution. The FETs were electrically characterized over a range of drain source biases Vds=0V_{ds}= 0Vds​=0 to −15V-15V−15V and gate voltages,Vgs=+3V_{gs}= +3Vgs​=+3 to −9V-9V−9V followed by in situ widefield NV magnetometry during device operation. Magnetic field maps and reconstructed current density distributions directly visualize current injection at the source drain contacts and transport beneath the hBN gated channel. Magnetic field maps reveal current density variations in the channel region owing to non-uniformities or defects in the gate dielectric. In addition, we observe a pronounced enhancement of the drain current (∼600−900μA\sim 600-900 μA∼600−900μA) and a shift in the apparent threshold voltage during laser illumination, reflecting photo induced changes in channel electrostatics. By correlating gate dependent magnetic images with simultaneous electrical measurements, we directly link spatial current distributions to FET transfer characteristics, providing new insight into buried interface transport and non-uniform gating effects in the transistor channel. As the methodology is compatible with top gated FETs, it can be used to map channel current distributions with micrometer resolution in emerging channel materials, such as 2D materials and wide bandgap channels, and establish widefield NV magnetometry as a powerful platform for probing charge transport in transistors and Van der Waals dielectric heterostructures.
Ensembles of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond are a leading platform for sensing and imaging magnetic fields at room temperature, in part due to advances in diamond growth. An essential step to improving diamond material involves the characterization of crystal and NV-related properties, such as strain and paramagnetic impurities, which can shift and broaden the NV resonances used for sensing. Full sample characterization through wide-field imaging enables both fast and detailed feedback for growers, along with the estimation of sensing performance before use. We present a quantum diamond microscope tailored for millimeter-scale wide-field mapping of key quantum properties of NV-diamond chips, including NV ensemble photoluminescence intensity, spin-lattice relaxation time (T1), and spin-coherence lifetimes (T2 and T2*). Our design also allows for lattice stress/strain and birefringence magnitude/angle mapping, and their in situ correlation with NV properties.
Wide-field quantum sensing and imaging with solid-state spins has attracted wide interest for its ability to detect relative physical quantities with high sensitivity at nanoscale. However, the optical diffraction limit hinders the improvement in spatial resolution. In this work, we utilize blind structured illumination microscopy to perform wide-field quantum sensing with nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond. Without the requirement of prior knowledge of excitation light field, the spatial resolution of NV centers imaging is enhanced by 1.8-fold in comparison with conventional microscopy. Combined with spin manipulation and detection, super-resolution NV center sensing is subsequently performed to reveal the optical and electrical properties of nanodevice. The high spatial resolution and feasibility of this work will promote the applications of quantum sensing in nanoscience.