All-optical electric field sensing with nanodiamond-doped polymer thin films

Abstract

The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center is a photoluminescent defect in diamond that exists in different charge states, NV${}^{-}$ and NV${}^0$, that are sensitive to the NV's nanoscale environment. Here, we show that photoluminescence (PL) from NV centers in fluorescent nanodiamonds (FNDs) can be employed for all-optical voltage sensing based on electric field-induced NV charge state modulation. More than 95% of FNDs integrated into a capacitor device show a transient increase in NV${}^{-}$ PL intensity of up to 31% within 0.1 ms after application of an external voltage, accompanied by a simultaneous decrease in NV${}^0$ PL. The change in NV${}^{-}$ PL increases with increasing applied voltage from 0 to 100 V, corresponding to an electric field of 0 to 625 kV cm${}^{-1}$ in our devices. The electric field sensitivity of a single FND is 19 V cm${}^{-1}$ Hz${}^{-1/2}$. We investigate the NV charge state photodynamics on the millisecond timescale and find that the change in NV PL strongly depends on the rate of photoexcitation. We propose a model that qualitatively explains the observed changes in NV PL based on an electric field-induced redistribution of photoexcited electrons from substitutional nitrogen defects to NV centers, leading to a transient conversion of NV${}^0$ to NV${}^{-}$ centers upon application of an external voltage. Our results contribute to the development of FNDs as reliable, all-optical, nanoscale electric field sensors in solid-state systems.

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