A Solid-State Ruby Magnetometer
Tuesday, September 13, 2022
11 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. EDT
>>Register for this Zoom webinar.
Reginald Wilcox, PhD candidate
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Research Assistant at MIT Lincoln Laboratory
Quantum sensors offer the potential for dramatic enhancements in sensitivity, accuracy, and size compared to their classical counterparts. In particular, solid-state spin-based quantum sensors have seen rapid development in recent years, with applications ranging from bio-medical imaging to magnetic mapping and navigation. Traditionally, these sensors have used optical methods to prepare and read out quantum states, which poses complications for reducing device size, power, and complexity, and limits sensing species to optically-polarizable defects.
In this talk, Wilcox will demonstrate a fully non-optical solid-state quantum sensor architecture using chromium defects in sapphire. The novel state preparation technique harnesses thermal population imbalances induced by the defect's zero-field splitting. Readout is performed by extending the cavity-enhanced microwave technique recently demonstrated in NV diamond. The resulting magnetometer is broadband with a minimum sensitivity of 9.7 pT/sqrt(Hz) near 5 kHz and a compact sensing head. Future improvements could include enhanced sensitivity from cavity frequency-locking and expansion to full vector magnetometry.
Attendees can join and participate in the series via Zoom.