All-optical nanoscale thermometry with silicon-vacancy centers in diamond

TL;DR

This paper presents an all-optical nanoscale thermometer using silicon-vacancy centers in diamond, achieving high precision and sensitivity for local temperature measurements at the nanoscale, with applications across various scientific fields.

Contribution

The study introduces a novel all-optical thermometry method based on SiV centers, demonstrating high precision and sensitivity in bulk and nanodiamond forms, enabling nanoscale temperature sensing.

Findings

Achieved 70 mK precision at room temperature.

Demonstrated 360 mK/√Hz sensitivity with bulk diamond.

Achieved 521 mK/√Hz sensitivity with nanodiamonds.

Abstract

We demonstrate an all-optical thermometer based on an ensemble of silicon-vacancy centers (SiVs) in diamond by utilizing a temperature dependent shift of the SiV optical zero-phonon line transition frequency, $\Delta\lambda/\Delta T= 6.8\,\mathrm{GHz/K}$. Using SiVs in bulk diamond, we achieve $70\,\mathrm{mK}$ precision at room temperature with a sensitivity of $360\,\mathrm{mK/\sqrt{Hz}}$. Finally, we use SiVs in $200\,\mathrm{nm}$ nanodiamonds as local temperature probes with $521\,\mathrm{ mK/\sqrt{Hz}}$ sensitivity. These results open up new possibilities for nanoscale thermometry in biology, chemistry, and physics, paving the way for control of complex nanoscale systems.