High-sensitivity spin-based electrometry with an ensemble of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond

We demonstrate a spin-based, all-dielectric electrometer based on an ensemble of nitrogen-vacancy (NV[superscript −]) defects in diamond. An applied electric field causes energy-level shifts symmetrically away from the NV[superscript −]'s degenerate triplet states via the Stark effect; this sym...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hemmer, Philip R., Chen, Edward H, Clevenson, Hannah A, Johnson, Kerry A., Pham, Linh M, Englund, Dirk R., Braje, Danielle A.
Other Authors: Lincoln Laboratory
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Physical Society 2017
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/109432
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7217-7137
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7405-4613
Description
Summary:We demonstrate a spin-based, all-dielectric electrometer based on an ensemble of nitrogen-vacancy (NV[superscript −]) defects in diamond. An applied electric field causes energy-level shifts symmetrically away from the NV[superscript −]'s degenerate triplet states via the Stark effect; this symmetry provides immunity to temperature fluctuations allowing for shot-noise-limited detection. Using an ensemble of NV[superscript −]s, we demonstrate shot-noise-limited sensitivities approaching 1 (V/cm)/√Hz under ambient conditions, at low frequencies (<10 Hz), and over a large dynamic range (20 dB). A theoretical model for the ensemble of NV[superscript −]s fits well with measurements of the ground-state electric susceptibility parameter 〈k[subscript ⊥]〉. Implications of spin-based, dielectric sensors for micron-scale electric-field sensing are discussed.