Quantum Sensing With Nitrogen Vacancy Centers

NV centers have become popular, powerful research tools in fields from biology to material science, where researchers exploit the quantum properties of the center’s electron to enhance its sensitivity to magnetic and electric fields, as well as temperature. Measuring these properties with the NV center can be performed completely optically and at ambient conditions, making them useful for numerous applications in nanoscale sensing.

Various formats of diamond are used by researchers to host NV centers, including ensembles of NV centers or single NV centers in bulk diamonds, single NV centers in nanodiamonds, and scanning measurements with a diamond tip. The type of diamond to use for an experiment depends on a number of factors.

A confocal microscope, a photon detector, a microwave source, and a nanopositioning stage can form the foundation of numerous NV center experiments. Tailoring the measurements to your desired outcomes requires an understanding of NV centers, the ability to balance the pros and cons of different diamond types and sources, and the knowledge of the NV center characterization method being applied.