Abstract
The Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) defect in diamond is a unique quantum system that offers precision sensing of nanoscale physical quantities at room temperature beyond the current state-of-the-art. The benchmark parameters for nanoscale magnetometry applications are sensitivity, spectral resolution, and dynamic range. Under realistic conditions the NV sensors controlled by conventional sensing schemes suffer from limitations of these parameters. Here we experimentally show a new method called dynamical sensitivity control (DYSCO) that boost the benchmark parameters and thus extends the practical applicability of the NV spin for nanoscale sensing. In contrast to conventional dynamical decoupling schemes, where π pulse trains toggle the spin precession abruptly, the DYSCO method allows for a smooth, analog modulation of the quantum probe’s sensitivity. Our method decouples frequency selectivity and spectral resolution unconstrained over the bandwidth (1.85 MHz–392 Hz in our experiments). Using DYSCO we demonstrate high-accuracy NV magnetometry without |2π| ambiguities, an enhancement of the dynamic range by a factor of 4 · 103, and interrogation times exceeding 2 ms in off-the-shelf diamond. In a broader perspective the DYSCO method provides a handle on the inherent dynamics of quantum systems offering decisive advantages for NV centre based applications notably in quantum information and single molecule NMR/MRI.
Highlights
A solid-state quantum system operable under varied conditions finds immense use in precision sensing
Noise spectroscopy and nuclear spin sensing based on Dynamical Decoupling (DD) schemes are usually performed by varying the free-precession time τ and thereby profiling the noise spectral density corresponding to fs = 1/[4 ·] with frequency resolution given by Δfs = 1/[N · 4 · (2τ + tπ)]17, 18
We demonstrate the method of dynamical sensitivity control (DYSCO) along with its application in NV metrology that mitigates a large part of the hurdles mentioned above
Summary
A solid-state quantum system operable under varied conditions finds immense use in precision sensing. Conventional NV precision metrology schemes are interferometric methods based on measuring the phase evolution of the spin’s superposition state during a defined free precession interval (τ)[1, 3, 9,10,11]. Noise spectroscopy and nuclear spin sensing based on DD schemes are usually performed by varying the free-precession time τ and thereby profiling the noise spectral density corresponding to fs = 1/[4 · (tπ + τ)] with frequency resolution given by Δfs = 1/[N · 4 · (2τ + tπ)]17, 18. The DYSCO method in addition to boosting the DR of the sensor to 4 · 103 enables a temporal modulation of the sensor in a piecewise manner with desired sensitivities, and permits to retrieve interactions in the frequency domain This is a unique property of our approach. The piece-wise dynamical sensitivity control provides an alternative scheme to decouple the central spin from inherent noise and realize high-fidelity quantum operations in the solid-state[37, 38]
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