0000000000260956
AUTHOR
Norman Y. Yao
Optically Enhanced Electric Field Sensing Using Nitrogen-Vacancy Ensembles
Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond have shown promise as inherently localized electric-field sensors, capable of detecting individual charges with nanometer resolution. Working with NV ensembles, we demonstrate that a detailed understanding of the internal electric field environment enables enhanced sensitivity in the detection of external electric fields. We follow this logic along two complementary paths. First, using excitation tuned near the NV's zero-phonon line, we perform optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) spectroscopy at cryogenic temperatures in order to precisely measure the NV center's excited-state susceptibility to electric fields. In doing so, we demonstrate th…
Imaging the local charge environment of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond
Characterizing the local internal environment surrounding solid-state spin defects is crucial to harnessing them as nanoscale sensors of external fields. This is especially germane to the case of defect ensembles which can exhibit a complex interplay between interactions, internal fields and lattice strain. Working with the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond, we demonstrate that local electric fields dominate the magnetic resonance behavior of NV ensembles at low magnetic field. We introduce a simple microscopic model that quantitatively captures the observed spectra for samples with NV concentrations spanning over two orders of magnitude. Motivated by this understanding, we propose an…
Emergent hydrodynamics in a strongly interacting dipolar spin ensemble.
Conventional wisdom holds that macroscopic classical phenomena naturally emerge from microscopic quantum laws. However, despite this mantra, building direct connections between these two descriptions has remained an enduring scientific challenge. In particular, it is difficult to quantitatively predict the emergent "classical" properties of a system (e.g. diffusivity, viscosity, compressibility) from a generic microscopic quantum Hamiltonian. Here, we introduce a hybrid solid-state spin platform, where the underlying disordered, dipolar quantum Hamiltonian gives rise to the emergence of unconventional spin diffusion at nanometer length scales. In particular, the combination of positional di…