Sensing Ferromagnetic Dynamics Using Nitrogen-Vacancy Center Containing Nanodiamonds
Restricted (Penn State Only)
- Author:
- Rable, Jeffrey
- Graduate Program:
- Physics
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- January 25, 2023
- Committee Members:
- Mikael Rechtsman, Major Field Member
Nitin Samarth, Chair & Dissertation Advisor
Xingjie Ni, Outside Unit & Field Member
Nitin Samarth, Program Head/Chair
Zhen Bi, Major Field Member - Keywords:
- quantum sensing
diamond
ferromagnetic resonance
qubit
ferromagnetic dynamics
nanodiamond
condensed matter physics
optics
magnetometry - Abstract:
- The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond has a number of physical and electronic properties that make it useful in quantum information science and sensing applications. Even at room temperature, it has long coherence times, extending into the millisecond range, and its electronic spin state can be initialized, manipulated, and read out using a combination of optical excitation and microwave fields. This has enabled the measurement of a number of different physical phenomena in condensed matter physics over the last two decades, and new experimental approaches to NV center sensing are regularly published. In this work, we begin by discussing the history of NV center measurements and the basic properties of the NV center - its physical structure, its electronic properties, and its coherence times - and the roles that they play in various sensing measurements. Moving forward, we discuss the different types of NV center-containing diamond that have been utilized in the literature, before moving more specifically into how they have been used for magnetic field sensing, which the remainder of this dissertation is dedicated to. In chapter 2, we cover the experimental apparatus used in NV center measurements - our scanning fluorescence microscope, and the electronics used to control both our laser and microwave fields. We then detail how various different types of measurements can be performed using the apparatus developed earlier in the chapter, and the specific pulse sequences that can be utilized, before moving more specifically into the types of measurements performed in the body of this work - specifically, the detection of DC magnetic fields and off-resonant ferromagnetic dynamics. Moving forward, we cover the first project that was completed using these techniques, the detection of ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) in mesoscopic ferromagnetic features. Using a nanodiamond placement technique previously developed by Benjamin Piazza, a former undergraduate research assistant who is now at Northeastern University, and Eric Kamp, a former graduate student in the Samarth group, we position NV centers on various locations in ferromagnetic structures. Then, using the off-resonant continuous wave optically detected FMR measurements discussed in chapter 2, we demonstrate the we can measure localized variations in the FMR dispersion of these features, specifically detecting both edge modes and defect modes. This work presents a novel technique for the local detection of FMR, which could be utilized by groups without an expensive, difficult to build NV center scanning probe magnetometer. The second project we discuss is an extension of the technique developed in the previous chapter; we now move from measuring FMR in mesoscopic features into the detection of nanoscale magnetic texture dynamics in nanoscale features. Here, we use the nanodiamond placement technique detailed in the previous chapter to position NV center containing nanodiamonds over transverse domain wall pinning sites in permalloy nanowires, and, using a pulsed optically detected magnetic resonance measurement, detect their oscillations. We then discuss the theoretical underpinnings of this off-resonant detection using micromagnetic simulations. This work builds a foundation for future measurements on coupling of the NV center with domain wall oscillations, and I envision future work on this project utilizing domain walls as nano-oscillators to generate or amplify a local magnetic field at the NV center. Finally, we discuss some miscellaneous unfinished projects. These include a project on the detection of FMR in artificial spin ice composed of platinum/cobalt islands and a soft permalloy underlayer, which enhances inter-island coupling, and measurements on ferromagnetic van der Waals material vanadium-doped tungsten disulfide. The first project yielded some interesting results, but the samples were dirty and difficult to measure after being used in an oil immersion lens for previous MOKE measurements. We propose that a future continuation of this project is possible, but would require new samples and a systematic plan of attack in order to produce a viable story. The V-WS₂ project yielded some interesting results, but not much could be done because of the samples' short lifetimes when exposed to oxygen. Future work on this project could benefit from a different approach, such as exfoliation of the material onto an NV center-containing diamond film. In the final chapter, we briefly discuss the multiple different directions this project can take, from continuation of the projects discussed in this work to the beginning of completely new projects, such as the growth of Boron-doped diamond and the detection of surface magnon-plasmon-polaritons.