Abstract
To solve the inefficiency of optical out-coupling of the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) luminescence in bulk diamond, we propose a quantum-spin sensor based on the NV centers in diamond. The sensor is able to map out the microwave magnetic field or temperature and other distributions on a sub-micron scale. We demonstrate the implementation of a nanowire (NW) array fabricated from a regular diamond sensing layer and nano-antennas as photonic waveguides fabricated on the backside of a diamond substrate. By tuning the parameters, we used numerical modeling to find an optimal range of the NW’s parameters that allow for a large collection efficiency of the emitted photons. By systematic optimization, we have observed an optical read-out efficiency strengthened by a factor of ~ 30. Since the optimized parameters for the sensing device are in the order of hundreds of nanometers, the sensor can achieve an enhanced sensitivity with sub-micron resolution.
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The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledged the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 61974059, 61674077, 61774081) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.
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Funding was provided by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 61974059, 61674077, 61774081).
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Zhao, G., Huang, Y., Tang, K. et al. Design of a quantum-spin sensor with sub-micron resolution and enhanced optical read-out ability by the nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond. Journal of Materials Research 38, 4819–4827 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1557/s43578-022-00795-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/s43578-022-00795-9