Nanoscale microwave imaging with a single electron spin in diamond

Abstract

We report on imaging of microwave (MW) magnetic fields using a magnetometer based on the electron spin of a nitrogen vacancy (NV) center in diamond. We quantitatively image the magnetic field generated by high frequency (GHz) MW current with nanoscale resolution using a scanning probe technique. Together with a shot noise limited MW magnetic field sensitivity of 680 nT Hz ^−1/2 our room temperature experiments establish the NV center as a versatile and high performance tool for MW imaging, which furthermore offers polarization selectivity and broadband capabilities. As a first application of this scanning MW detector, we image the MW stray field around a stripline structure and thereby locally determine the MW current density with a MW current sensitivity of a few nA Hz ^−1/2 .

Keywords

• microwave imaging
• nanoscale magnetic field sensing
• nitrogen vacancy center
• diamond