Diamond-based field sensor for nEDM experiment

Ensembles of negatively charged nitrogen vacancy centers in diamonds are investigated as optical sensors for electric and magnetic fields in the interaction region of a neutron electric dipole moment experiment. As a first step towards measuring electric fields, the Stark shift is investigated in the ground electronic state, using optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) to measure hyperfine-resolved fine structure transitions. One detection approach is to modulate the electric field and demodulate the ODMR signal at the modulation frequency or its harmonic. Models indicate that the ratio of the amplitudes of these signals provides information about the magnitude of the electric field. Experiments show line shapes consistent with the models. Methods are considered for extending this technique to all-optical measurement of fields. Additionally, progress is reported towards an all-optical, fiberized sensor based on electromagnetically-induced transparency (EIT), which may be suitable for measuring magnetic fields. The design uses total internal reflection to provide a long optical path through the diamond for both the 637 nm EIT laser and a green repump laser.