NV Centers in Diamond as Quantum Sensors for High-Pressure Physics

Speaker

Jean-François Roch
Professor
ENS Paris-Saclay, France

Abstract

The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color center is a point defect of diamond. Behaving as an artificial atom it can be used as a magnetic field, pressure, and temperature solid-state quantum sensor down to the atomic scale. I will describe how this sensitivity can be applied inside a diamond anvil cell in order to investigate the magnetic and superconducting properties of high-pressure materials. This NV-based high-pressure sensing technique is also compatible with a synchrotron-based characterization of the crystalline structure. The implementation of these complementary techniques in a single set-up will open a broad range of applications, for instance for the discovery of novel superconductors.

Bio

Jean-François Roch is the co-author of 135 publications. He is a professor “classe exceptionnelle” at Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS) Paris-Saclay (formerly ENS Cachan). Aside from his academic work in quantum optics and quantum sensing, he served as the vice-rector of ENS Cachan (2009-2010) where he was in charge of all research and innovation activities (fundamental science, engineering, and humanities), and then as the director of Laboratoire Aimé Cotton (2012-2017).

In 2016, he started a joint laboratory with Thales to foster developments on quantum technologies. His experiments are now settled in the Thales Research Center in Palaiseau (France). He is responsible for the “Technological and Scientific Resources” axis of the network SIRTEQ that federates research and innovation on quantum technologies in the region of Île-de-France. He is a member of the scientific committee of the Diamond Hasselt; a Referee for scientific journals Phys. Rev. Lett., Nature and Science; and an Adjunct professor at East China Normal University (Shanghai).