No Arabic abstract
Solid-state quantum emitters have emerged as robust single-photon sources and addressable spins: key components in rapidly developing quantum technologies for broadband magnetometry, biological sensing, and quantum information science. Performance in these applications, be it magnetometer sensitivity or quantum key generation rate, is limited by the number of photons detected. However, efficient collection of a quantum emitters photoluminescence (PL) is challenging as its atomic scale necessitates diffraction-limited imaging with nanometer-precision alignment, oftentimes at cryogenic temperatures. In this letter, we image an individual quantum emitter, an isolated nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond, using a dielectric metalens composed of subwavelength pillars etched into the diamonds surface. The metalens eliminates the need for an objective by operating as a high-transmission-efficiency immersion lens with a numerical aperture (NA) greater than 1.0. This design provides a scalable approach for fiber coupling solid-state quantum emitters that will enable the development of deployable quantum devices.
We report on pulsed-laser induced generation of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond facilitated by a solid-immersion lens (SIL). The SIL enables laser writing at energies as low as 5.8 nJ per pulse and allows vacancies to be formed close to a diamond surface without inducing surface graphitization. We operate in the previously unexplored regime where lattice vacancies are created following tunneling breakdown rather than multiphoton ionization. We present three samples in which NV-center arrays were laser-written at distances between ~1 $mu$m and 40 $mu$m from a diamond surface, all presenting narrow distributions of optical linewidths with means between 62.1 MHz and 74.5 MHz. The linewidths include the effect of long-term spectral diffusion induced by a 532 nm repump laser for charge-state stabilization, thereby emphasizing the particularly low charge-noise environment of the created color centers. Such high-quality NV centers are excellent candidates for practical applications employing two-photon quantum interference with separate NV centers. Finally, we propose a model for disentangling power broadening from inhomogeneous broadening in the NV center optical linewidth.
The electrical conductivity of a material can feature subtle, nontrivial, and spatially-varying signatures with critical insight into the materials underlying physics. Here we demonstrate a conductivity imaging technique based on the atom-sized nitrogen-vacancy (NV) defect in diamond that offers local, quantitative, and noninvasive conductivity imaging with nanoscale spatial resolution. We monitor the spin relaxation rate of a single NV center in a scanning probe geometry to quantitatively image the magnetic fluctuations produced by thermal electron motion in nanopatterned metallic conductors. We achieve 40-nm scale spatial resolution of the conductivity and realize a 25-fold increase in imaging speed by implementing spin-to-charge conversion readout of a shallow NV center. NV-based conductivity imaging can probe condensed-matter systems in a new regime, and as a model example, we project readily achievable imaging of nanoscale phase separation in complex oxides.
We review our recent developments of near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) that uses an active tip made of a single fluorescent nanodiamond (ND) grafted onto the apex of a substrate fiber tip. The ND hosting a limited number of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color centers, such a tip is a scanning quantum source of light. The method for preparing the ND-based tips and their basic properties are summarized. Then we discuss theoretically the concept of spatial resolution that is achievable in this special NSOM configuration and find it to be only limited by the scan height over the imaged system, in contrast with the standard aperture-tip NSOM whose resolution depends critically on both the scan height and aperture diameter. Finally, we describe a scheme we have introduced recently for high-resolution imaging of nanoplasmonic structures with ND-based tips that is capable of approaching the ultimate resolution anticipated by theory.
Detection of AC magnetic fields at the nanoscale is critical in applications ranging from fundamental physics to materials science. Isolated quantum spin defects, such as the nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond, can achieve the desired spatial resolution with high sensitivity. Still, vector AC magnetometry currently relies on using different orientations of an ensemble of sensors, with degraded spatial resolution, and a protocol based on a single NV is lacking. Here we propose and experimentally demonstrate a protocol that exploits a single NV to reconstruct the vectorial components of an AC magnetic field by tuning a continuous driving to distinct resonance conditions. We map the spatial distribution of an AC field generated by a copper wire on the surface of the diamond. The proposed protocol combines high sensitivity, broad dynamic range, and sensitivity to both coherent and stochastic signals, with broad applications in condensed matter physics, such as probing spin fluctuations.
We theoretically propose a method to realize optical nonreciprocity in rotating nano-diamond with a nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center. Because of the relative motion of the NV center with respect to the propagating fields, the frequencies of the fields are shifted due to the Doppler effect. When the control and probe fields are incident to the NV center from the same direction, the two-photon resonance still holds as the Doppler shifts of the two fields are the same. Thus, due to the electromagnetically-induced transparency (EIT), the probe light can pass through the NV center nearly without absorption. However, when the two fields propagate in opposite directions, the probe light can not effectively pass through the NV center as a result of the breakdown of two-photon resonance.