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  • Featured in Physics
  • Open Access

Scalable Parallel Measurement of Individual Nitrogen-Vacancy Centers

Matthew Cambria1,*, Saroj Chand1,*, Caitlin Mary Reiter1, and Shimon Kolkowitz1,2,†

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Contact author: kolkowitz@berkeley.edu
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Phys. Rev. X 15, 031015 – Published 14 July, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/jdzq-jbfz

Abstract

The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond is a solid-state spin defect that has been widely adopted for quantum sensing and quantum information processing applications. Typically, experiments are performed either with a single isolated NV center or with an unresolved ensemble of many NV centers, resulting in a trade-off between measurement speed and spatial resolution or control over individual defects. In this work, we introduce an experimental platform that bypasses this trade-off by addressing multiple optically resolved NV centers in parallel. We perform charge- and spin-state manipulations selectively on multiple NV centers from within a larger set, and we manipulate and measure the electronic spin states of over 100 NV centers in parallel. We show that the high signal-to-noise ratio of the measurements enables the detection of shot-to-shot pairwise correlations between the spin states of 108 NV centers, corresponding to the simultaneous measurement of 5778 unique correlation coefficients. We discuss how our platform can be scaled to parallel experiments with thousands of individually resolved NV centers. These results enable parallelized high-throughput sensing experiments that retain the spatial resolution of single defects and will, thereby, help to unlock advances in applications such as single-molecule NMR and characterization of integrated circuits. In addition, our approach to multiplexing provides a natural platform for the application of recently developed correlated sensing techniques.

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Optimizing Diamond as a Quantum Sensor

Published 14 July, 2025

Two independent groups optimize diamond-based quantum sensing by using more than 100 such sensors in parallel.

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Popular Summary

The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond is a well-studied point defect with unique properties: Its electronic spin can be controlled and measured optically, and it maintains coherence even at room temperature. This makes NV centers highly attractive for quantum sensing and information processing. However, a major challenge has been balancing the need for fast measurements (best achieved with large ensembles) against the desire for spatial resolution and control over individual NV centers (only possible with single-defect experiments). In this study, we present a new experimental platform that overcomes this trade-off by enabling the parallel control of many spatially resolved NV centers.

Our method adapts optical techniques from reconfigurable tweezer arrays, a technology that has transformed experiments with neutral atoms. Using this approach, we demonstrate the ability to individually address and manipulate more than 100 NV centers simultaneously. We perform parallel spin experiments, measure the coherence properties of each NV center, and characterize their surrounding nuclear spin environments. We also demonstrate that the precision of our measurements allows us to detect pairwise correlations between the spin states of different NV centers, a capability not previously available at scale.

This platform represents a major step forward in scalable quantum sensing. By identifying the key technical limitations, we estimate that our method could ultimately support experiments with thousands of NV centers in parallel. This capability could enable goals such as single-molecule NMR and large-scale correlated sensing, offering powerful new tools for probing complex quantum and condensed matter systems.

See Also

Massively Multiplexed Nanoscale Magnetometry with Diamond Quantum Sensors

Kai-Hung Cheng, Zeeshawn Kazi, Jared Rovny, Bichen Zhang, Lila S. Nassar, Jeff D. Thompson, and Nathalie P. de Leon
Phys. Rev. X 15, 031014 (2025)

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Phys. Rev. X 15, 031015– Published 14 July, 2025
  • Received 11 September 2024
  • Accepted 16 May 2025
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