Real Time Magnetic Field Sensing and Imaging Using a Single Spin in Diamond

The Zeeman splitting of a localized single spin can be used to construct a highly sensitive magnetometer offering almost atomic spatial resolution. While sub-mu T sensitivity can be obtained in principle using pulsed techniques and long measurement times, a fast and easy method without laborious data postprocessing is desirable for a scanning-probe approach with high spatial resolution. In order to measure the resonance frequency in real time, we applied a field-frequency lock to the optically detected magnetic resonance signal of a single electron spin in a nanodiamond. We achieved a sampling rate of up to 100 readings per sec with a sensitivity of 6 mu T/root Hz. Images of the field distribution around a magnetic wire were acquired with similar to 30 mu T resolution and 4096 submicron sized pixels in 10 min. The response of several spins was used to reconstruct the field orientation.