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    All-Optical Magnetic Imaging Protocol to Achieve Angstrom-Scale Resolution with Spin Defects in van der Waals Materials

    Ning Wang1,*, Jianming Cai1,2,†, and Chao Lei3,‡

    • 1School of Physics, Hubei Key Laboratory of Gravitation and Quantum Physics, Institute for Quantum Science and Engineering, International Joint Laboratory on Quantum Sensing and Quantum Metrology, Center for Intelligence and Quantum Science (CIQS), Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
    • 2Wuhan Institute of Quantum Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
    • 3Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA

    • *Contact author: ningwang@hust.edu.cn
    • †Contact author: jianmingcai@hust.edu.cn
    • ‡Contact author: leichao.ph@gmail.com

    Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 046901 – Published 22 July, 2025

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/9386-v25k

    Abstract

    Magnetic imaging with ultrahigh spatial resolution is crucial to exploring the magnetic textures of emerging quantum materials. We propose a novel magnetic imaging protocol that achieves angstrom-scale resolution by combining spin defects in van der Waals materials and terahertz (THz) scattering scanning near-field optical microscopy. Spin defects in the atomic monolayer enable the probe-to-sample distance diving into angstrom range where the exchange interactions between the probe and sample spins become predominant. This exchange interaction leads to energy splitting of the probe spin in the order of meV, corresponding to THz frequencies. With THz optics and the spin-dependent fluorescence of the probe spin, the interaction energy can be resolved entirely through optical methods. Our proposed all-optical magnetic imaging protocol holds significant promise for investigating magnetic textures in condensed matter physics due to its excellent compatibility and high spatial resolution.

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