Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

High-dynamic-range magnetometry with a single nuclear spin in diamond

Nature Nanotechnology volume 7, pages 105–108 (2012)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Sensors based on the nitrogen-vacancy defect in diamond are being developed to measure weak magnetic and electric fields at the nanoscale1,2,3,4,5. However, such sensors rely on measurements of a shift in the Lamor frequency of the defect, so an accumulation of quantum phase causes the measurement signal to exhibit a periodic modulation. This means that the measurement time is either restricted to half of one oscillation period, which limits accuracy, or that the magnetic field range must be known in advance. Moreover, the precision increases only slowly (as T−0.5) with measurement time T (ref. 3). Here, we implement a quantum phase estimation algorithm6,7,8 on a single nuclear spin in diamond to combine both high sensitivity and high dynamic range. By achieving a scaling of the precision with time to T−0.85, we improve the sensitivity by a factor of 7.4 for an accessible field range of 16 mT, or, alternatively, we improve the dynamic range by a factor of 130 for a sensitivity of 2.5 µT Hz−1/2. Quantum phase estimation algorithms have also recently been implemented using a single electron spin in a nitrogen-vacancy centre9. These methods are applicable to a variety of field detection schemes, and do not require quantum entanglement.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: NV centre spins in an external magnetic field.
Figure 2: Ramsey interferometry using a single spin.
Figure 3: Quantum phase estimation algorithm.
Figure 4: Comparison of QPEA and the standard measurement scheme.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Balasubramanian, G. et al. Nanoscale imaging magnetometry with diamond spins under ambient conditions. Nature 455, 648–651 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Maze, J. R. et al. Nanoscale magnetic sensing with an individual electronic spin in diamond. Nature 455, 644–647 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Taylor, J. M. et al. High-sensitivity diamond magnetometer with nanoscale resolution. Nature Phys. 4, 810–816 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Balasubramanian, G. et al. Ultralong spin coherence time in isotopically engineered diamond. Nature Mater. 8, 383–387 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Dolde, F. et al. Electric-field sensing using single diamond spins. Nature Phys. 7, 459–463 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Higgins, B. L., Berry, D. W., Bartlett, S. D., Wiseman, H. M. & Pryde, G. J. Entanglement-free Heisenberg-limited phase estimation. Nature 450, 393–396 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Higgins, B. L. et al. Demonstrating Heisenberg-limited unambiguous phase estimation without adaptive measurements. New J. Phys. 11, 073023 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Said, R. S., Berry, D. W. & Twamley, J. Nanoscale magnetometry using a single-spin system in diamond. Phys. Rev. B 83, 125410 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Nusran, N. M., Momeen, U. & Dutt, M. V. G. High dynamic range magnetometry with a single electron spin in diamond. Nature Nanotech. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2011.225 (2011).

  10. Gruber, A. et al. Scanning confocal optical microscopy and magnetic resonance on single defect centers. Science 276, 2012–2014 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Jelezko, F. et al. Observation of coherent oscillation of a single nuclear spin and realization of a two-qubit conditional quantum gate. Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 130501 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Childress, L. et al. Coherent dynamics of coupled electron and nuclear spin qubits in diamond. Science 314, 281–285 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Neumann, P. et al. Single-shot readout of a single nuclear spin. Science 329, 542–544 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Buckley, B. B., Fuchs, G. D., Bassett, L. C. & Awschalom, D. D. Spin-light coherence for single-spin measurement and control in diamond. Science 330, 1212–1215 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Steiner, M., Neumann, P., Beck, J., Jelezko, F. & Wrachtrup, J. Universal enhancement of the optical readout fidelity of single electron spins at nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond. Phys. Rev. B 81, 035205 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Waldherr, G. et al. Dark states of single nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond unraveled by single shot NMR. Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 157601 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Berry, D. W. et al. How to perform the most accurate possible phase measurements. Phys. Rev. A 80, 052114 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors thank C. Wunderlich for providing a versatile frequency generator (VFG-150). This work was supported by ERC Project SQUTEC, the DFG SFB/TR21 and EU Projects DIAMANT and SOLID.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 3. Physikalisches Institut, Research Center SCOPE, and MPI for Solid State Research, University of Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 57, Stuttgart, 70569, Germany

    G. Waldherr, J. Beck, P. Neumann, M. Nitsche, F. Jelezko & J. Wrachtrup

  2. Department of Physics & Astronomy, Centre for Engineered Quantum Systems, Faculty of Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia

    R. S. Said & J. Twamley

  3. Institut für Quanten-Informationsverarbeitung, Universität Ulm, Ulm, 89081, Germany

    R. S. Said

  4. Element Six Ltd, King's Ride Park, Ascot, SL5 8BP, UK

    M. L. Markham & D. J. Twitchen

  5. Institut für Quantenoptik, Universität Ulm, Ulm, 89073, Germany

    F. Jelezko

Authors
  1. G. Waldherr
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. J. Beck
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. P. Neumann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. R. S. Said
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. M. Nitsche
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. M. L. Markham
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. D. J. Twitchen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. J. Twamley
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. F. Jelezko
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. J. Wrachtrup
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

G.W., J.B., P.N. and M.N. carried out the experiment. R.S.S., J.B., P.N., G.W., J.T. and F.J. conceived and designed the experiment. M.L.M. and D.J.T. prepared the diamond. G.W., P.N., R.S.S., F.J., J.T. and J.W. wrote and discussed the manuscript. F.J., J.T. and J.W. supervised the project.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to G. Waldherr.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary information

Supplementary information (PDF 480 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Waldherr, G., Beck, J., Neumann, P. et al. High-dynamic-range magnetometry with a single nuclear spin in diamond. Nature Nanotech 7, 105–108 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2011.224

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2011.224

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing