Vector magnetic field sensing by single nitrogen vacancy center in diamond

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel method for vector magnetic field sensing using a single nitrogen vacancy center in diamond, combining electron Zeeman shift and nuclear spin precession measurements for complete vector detection.

Contribution

It introduces an experimental approach that integrates electron and nuclear spin measurements for full vector magnetic field detection at the nanoscale.

Findings

Successfully measured vector magnetic fields with high sensitivity.

Demonstrated insensitivity to temperature fluctuations.

Achieved complete vector field information using combined measurements.

Abstract

In this Letter, we proposed and experimentally demonstrated a method to detect vector magnetic field with a single nitrogen vacancy (NV) center in diamond. The magnetic field in parallel with the axis of the NV center can be obtained by detecting the electron Zeeman shift, while the Larmor precession of an ancillary nuclear spin close to the NV center can be used to measure the field perpendicular to the axis. Experimentally, both the Zeeman shift and Larmor precession can be measured through the fluorescence from the NV center. By applying additional calibrated magnetic fields, complete information of the vector magnetic field can be achieved with such a method. This vector magnetic field detection method is insensitive to temperature fluctuation and it can be applied to nanoscale magnetic measurement.