Marcus Doherty, Australian National University

To date, nano-electrometry and electric field imaging with single charge sensitivity has been restricted to cryogenic and/ or ultra-high vacuum conditions. If such electrometry could break free of those restrictive conditions, it would find a great diversity of interdisciplinary applications. These include characterization of 2D electronics, charge transfer and polarization in chemical reactions and biological processes, and exotic phase transitions of electric materials.

The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centre in diamond is uniquely capable of performing vector nano-electrometry with single charge sensitivity across the full range ambient and extreme conditions. However, NV electrometry has thus far has been limited to detecting charges within the diamond hosting the NV centre, and so highly restricted in its application. In this presentation, Marcus will report recent discoveries about the source of this limitation and how his team overcame it to image effective single charges, external to the NV diamond, with nano-scale resolution.

A related topic is the control of the NV centre’s charge state, which is critical to improving the performance of its various quantum technologies. If time permits, Marcus will also talk about how his team are seeking to engineer the NV centre’s photoionization processes using nanoelectronics and implement quantum control techniques to preserve spin coherence during photoionization.

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