Microwave heating effect on diamond sample of NV centers

TL;DR

This paper investigates how microwave irradiation heats diamond samples with NV centers, affecting their temperature-dependent properties and measurement accuracy, with implications for quantum sensing applications.

Contribution

It reveals the microwave heating effect on NV center diamonds and its dependence on power, duration, and mode, highlighting the importance of mode selection for accurate measurements.

Findings

Microwave irradiation causes a temperature increase in NV diamond samples.

The heating effect depends on microwave power and irradiation duration.

The effect is negligible with the quantum lock-in XY8-N method.

Abstract

Diamond samples of defects with negative charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers are promising solid state spin sensors suitable for quantum information processing, high sensitive measurements of magnetic, electric and thermal fields in nanoscale. The diamond defect with a NV center is unique for its robust temperature-dependent zero field splitting Dgs of the triplet ground state. This property enables optical readout of electron spin states through manipulation of the ground triplet state using microwave resonance with Dgs from 100 K to about 600 K. Thus, prohibiting Dgs from unwanted external thermal disturbances is crucial for an accurate measurement using diamond NV sensors. Our observation demonstrates the existence of a prominent microwave heating effect on the diamond samples of NV centers. The effect is inevitable to shift Dgs and cause measurement errors. The temperature increment caused by the effect monotonically depends on the power and the duration of microwave irradiation. The effect is obvious with the microwave irradiation in the continuous mode and some pulse sequence modes, but is neglectable for the quantum lock-in XY8-N method.