Scanning Probe Magnetometry with Nitrogen Vacancy Centers in Diamond under Ambient Conditions

The nitrogen vacancy (NV) center in diamond is a molecular-sized quantum system offering applications in nanoscale metrology even under ambient conditions. In the scope of this work, a precise room temperature magnetometer with high spatial resolution is realized by the combination of a single NV center with a scanning probe microscope (SPM). Using this novel approach, both the static magnetic pattern of a hard disk drive (HDD) and fluctuating fields emerging from a single superparamagnetic nanoparticle are successfully imaged. The results of this work lead to further insight into the structure and magnetic characteristics of such nanosystems and demonstrate the benefits of this sensing method.