Hybrid sensors based on colour centres in diamond and piezoactive layers

TL;DR

This paper proposes a hybrid nanoscale sensor combining diamond color centers and piezo-active layers to enhance sensitivity and spatial resolution in measuring physical signals like pressure and electric fields.

Contribution

It introduces a novel hybrid device architecture that improves sensitivity and enables strong coupling between mechanical oscillators and spin qubits.

Findings

Significant sensitivity improvements over pure diamond sensors.

Ability to operate under ambient conditions with realistic noise.

Potential for engineering strong coherent couplings in quantum systems.

Abstract

The ability to measure weak signals such as pressure, force, electric field, and temperature with nanoscale devices and high spatial resolution offers a wide range of applications in fundamental and applied sciences. Here we present a proposal for a hybrid device composed of thin film layers of diamond with color centers implanted and piezo-active elements for the transduction and measurement of a wide variety of physical signals. The magnetic response of a piezomagnetic layer to an external stress or a stress induced by the change of electric field and temperature is shown to affect significantly the spin properties of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond. Under ambient conditions, realistic environmental noise and material imperfections, our detailed numerical studies show that this hybrid device can achieve significant improvements in sensitivity over the pure diamond based approach in combination with nanometer scale spatial resolution. Beyond its applications in quantum sensing the proposed hybrid architecture offers novel possibilities for engineering strong coherent couplings between nanomechanical oscillator and solid state spin qubits.