High-precision optical magnetometry using Nitrogen Vacancies in CVD diamond

Hossein Babashah
2023
EPFL thesis

Sensing weak magnetic fields is a topic of great importance in basic science and technology due to its wide range of applications. In this context, solid-state and nanoscale quantum sensors are poised to revolutionize the sensing platforms due to their ultimate sensitivity, precision, and robustness. The sensitivity comes from the central weakness of quantum systems: their strong sensitivity to external disturbances. Very high precision is provided by these atom-like quantum systems as they are defined by natural constants which are inherently free of fabrication tolerance. Moreover, the protected environment of atoms offers a higher resilience against external influences as compared to artificially designed structures.Recently, considerable attention has been paid to color centers in diamonds for their applications in spin-based quantum sensing and quantum information processing. Among them, the nitrogen vacancy (NV) center is of particular interest since it possesses a non-zero spin in its ground state and is compatible with optical methods to initiate and read out this spin. The NV center is a defect in the crystal lattice of a diamond where two adjacent carbon atoms are replaced by a nitrogen atom and a vacancy. It provides a wide range of applications including electric-field, magnetic-field, pressure, and temperature sensing, as well as nanoscale NMR.This thesis focuses on the development of software and hardware aiming to facilitate the use of diamond nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color centers as high-precision magnetic field sensors, through the technique of optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR). The thesis explains the main principles and concepts of ODMR, as well as the hardware and software considerations for continuous and pulsed ODMR experiments. An emphasis is put on developing open-source code and making it compatible with affordable hardware, so as to democratize ODMR experiments and applications. In the last chapters, the thesis also presents solutions for enhancing the magnetic field sensitivity of the NV center through an efficient collection, excitation, and manipulation of NV electron spins.

About this result

This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.

Related concepts (35)

Related publications (33)

Related MOOCs (30)

Plasma Physics: Introduction

Learn the basics of plasma, one of the fundamental states of matter, and the different types of models used to describe it, including fluid and kinetic.

Plasma Physics: Introduction

Learn the basics of plasma, one of the fundamental states of matter, and the different types of models used to describe it, including fluid and kinetic.

Plasma Physics: Applications

Learn about plasma applications from nuclear fusion powering the sun, to making integrated circuits, to generating electricity.

The nitrogen-vacancy center (N-V center or NV center) is one of numerous point defects in diamond. Its most explored and useful property is its photoluminescence, which allows observers to read out its spin-state. The NV center's electron spin, localized at atomic scales, can be manipulated at room temperature by external factors such as magnetic, or electric fields, microwave radiation, or optical light, resulting in sharp resonances in the intensity of the photoluminescence.

Quantum information is the information of the state of a quantum system. It is the basic entity of study in quantum information theory, and can be manipulated using quantum information processing techniques. Quantum information refers to both the technical definition in terms of Von Neumann entropy and the general computational term. It is an interdisciplinary field that involves quantum mechanics, computer science, information theory, philosophy and cryptography among other fields.

Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, but diamond is metastable and converts to it at a negligible rate under those conditions. Diamond has the highest hardness and thermal conductivity of any natural material, properties that are used in major industrial applications such as cutting and polishing tools.

Electron-beam based nanoscale quantum controls

Hoda Shirzad

Advancing quantum technologies depends on the precise control of individual quantum systems, the so-called qubits, and the exploitation of their quantum properties. Nowadays, expanding the number of qubits to be entangled is at the core of the developments ...

EPFL2024

Recent advances in magnonics

Dirk Grundler, Benedetta Flebus

Magnonics is an exciting and rapidly growing field revolving around the study and manipulation of magnons, the low-lying collective excitations of magnetically ordered systems. This field has emerged in response to both fundamental physics interests and th ...

2023

Emergence of Classical Magnetic Order from Anderson Towers: Quantum Darwinism in Action

Frédéric Mila

Environment is assumed to play a negative role in quantum mechanics, destroying the coherence in a quantum system and, thus, randomly changing its state. However, for a quantum system that is initially in a degenerate ground state, the situation could be d ...

College Pk2023