Open AccessHigh-efficiency fluorescence collection for NV- center ensembles in diamond
Author(s) -
Lixia Xu,
Hui Yuan,
Ning Zhang,
Jixing Zhang,
Guodong Bian,
Pengcheng Fan,
Mingxin Li,
Chen Zhang,
Yueyang Zhai,
Jiancheng Fang
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.27.010787
Subject(s) - optics , diamond , fluorescence , microscope , total internal reflection , materials science , lens (geology) , total internal reflection fluorescence microscope , nitrogen vacancy center , quantum metrology , microscopy , quantum efficiency , metrology , optoelectronics , physics , quantum , quantum information , quantum network , quantum mechanics , composite material
The negatively charged nitrogen vacancy (NV - ) center ensembles in diamond have been demonstrated to be a promising platform for quantum metrology, but the poor fluorescence collection efficiency of a microscope objective limits the sensitivity of the NV - based sensors. Here we present a method for increasing the collected fluorescence intensity with a total internal reflection (TIR) lens. The detected fluorescence intensity is increased by approximately a factor of 56 compared with detection using a microscope objective with NA = 0.55, leading to a collection efficiency of 47.7% ± 3.1%. The signal-to-noise ratio is improved by a factor of 7.6 using the TIR lens. The proposed method is of great significance for collecting fluorescence from NV - centers in a large volume and can be used in weak fluorescence detection systems.