Quantum sensing with arbitrary frequency resolution

Abstract

Quantum sensing takes advantage of well controlled quantum systems for performing measurements with high sensitivity and precision. We have implemented a concept for quantum sensing with arbitrary frequency resolution, independent of the qubit probe and limited only by the stability of an external synchronization clock. Our concept makes use of quantum lock-in detection to continuously probe a signal of interest. Using the electronic spin of a single nitrogen vacancy center in diamond, we demonstrate detection of oscillating magnetic fields with a frequency resolution of 70 uHz over a MHz bandwidth. The continuous sampling further guarantees an excellent sensitivity, reaching a signal-to-noise ratio in excess of 10,000:1 for a 170 nT test signal measured during a one-hour interval. Our technique has applications in magnetic resonance spectroscopy, quantum simulation, and sensitive signal detection.

Manuscript resubmitted to Science. Includes Supplementary Materials

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• Coherent control of single spins in silicon carbide at room temperature
• Single Ion Quantum Lock-In Amplifier
• Single-spin magnetometry with multi-pulse sensing sequences
• Nano-engineered Diamond Waveguide as a Robust Bright Platform for Nanomagnetometry Using Shallow Nitrogen Vacancy Centers
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Cited by in corpus (3)

• Achieving optimal quantum acceleration of frequency estimation using adaptive coherent control
• Quantum Fisher information matrix in Heisenberg XY model
• Continuously observing a dynamically decoupled spin-1 quantum gas