All-Optical Nuclear Quantum Sensing using Nitrogen-Vacancy Centers in Diamond

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel all-optical quantum sensing method using nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond, enabling miniaturized, energy-efficient sensors without microwave or radio-frequency driving.

Contribution

The authors demonstrate a purely optical approach to coherent quantum sensing with NV centers, eliminating the need for microwave or RF fields and enabling compact sensor design.

Findings

Successful all-optical free-induction decay measurements on single spins and ensembles

Demonstration of nuclear spin superposition state preparation via optical pumping

Potential for highly compact magnetometry and gyroscopy applications

Abstract

Solid state spins have demonstrated significant potential in quantum sensing with applications including fundamental science, medical diagnostics and navigation. The quantum sensing schemes showing best performance under ambient conditions all utilize microwave or radio-frequency driving, which poses a significant limitation for miniaturization, energy-efficiency and non-invasiveness of quantum sensors. We overcome this limitation by demonstrating a purely optical approach to coherent quantum sensing. Our scheme involves the $^{15}$N nuclear spin of the Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) center in diamond as a sensing resource, and exploits NV spin dynamics in oblique magnetic fields near the NV's excited state level anti-crossing to optically pump the nuclear spin into a quantum superposition state. We demonstrate all-optical free-induction decay measurements - the key protocol for low-frequency quantum sensing - both on single spins and spin ensembles. Our results pave the way for highly compact quantum sensors to be employed for magnetometry or gyroscopy applications in challenging environments.