Imaging crystal stress in diamond using ensembles of nitrogen-vacancy centers

TL;DR

This paper introduces a high-resolution stress imaging technique in diamond using nitrogen-vacancy centers, enabling detailed stress mapping to improve NV magnetometry performance and broadening applications in science.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel micrometer-resolution stress imaging method for diamonds with NV centers, allowing direct stress tensor reconstruction over large fields of view.

Findings

Stress inhomogeneity impacts NV magnetometry performance.

The imaging technique effectively maps stress tensor elements.

This method enhances the understanding and optimization of NV-based sensing.

Abstract

We present a micrometer-resolution millimeter-field-of-view stress imaging method for diamonds containing a thin surface layer of nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers. In this method, we reconstruct stress tensor elements over a two-dimensional field of view from NV optically-detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) spectra. We use this technique to study how stress inhomogeneity affects NV magnetometry performance, and show how NV stress imaging is a useful and direct way to assess these effects. This new tool for mapping stress in diamond will aid optimization of NV-diamond sensing, with wide-ranging applications in the physical and life sciences.