Commercial scanning nitrogen vacancy magnetometer in a closed-cycle cryostat

TL;DR

This paper presents a commercially available, cryogenically operable NV centre magnetometer with nanometre resolution, real-time analysis, and compatibility with AFM tips, suitable for quantum magnetic field measurements at various temperatures.

Contribution

It introduces a novel, integrated instrument for magnetic field sensing using NV centres in diamond, operable from 2 K to 300 K, with real-time control and analysis capabilities.

Findings

Achieved micro Tesla per square root Hertz sensitivity.

Demonstrated low noise AFM tip control.

Successfully performed optically detected resonance scans in a cryostat.

Abstract

The ability to measure magnetic fields on the nanometre scale at cryogenic temperatures is key to understand magnetism on the quantum level and to develop materials for new storage devices or quantum computers. Nitrogen vacancy (NV) centres in diamond have proven to be a robust means to harness quantum sensing for such applications. We have developed an instrument to measure the magnetic stray field of a sample with nanometre resolution from 2 K to 300 K and that accepts samples without additional preparation, especially the need to prepare a microwave line on the sample. The instrument features a software-interface for controlling and synchronising all included optical, mechanical and electronic devices and which analyses the acquired information in real time. We present the key features and measurement results achieved with atomic force microscopy (AFM) tips hosting an NV centre and a fully remote controllable microscope platform. The magnetometer is commercially available, and a first demonstrator has been installed in a research facility. We show micro Tesla per square root Hertz sensitivity, low noise AFM tip control and optically detected resonance scans in a closed-cycle cryostat.