Methods and apparatus for optically detecting magnetic resonance

US11346904B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology · US

Inventors

• Linh M. Pham · Cambridge, US
• Kerry Johnson · Somerville, US
• Carson Arthur Teale · Cambridge, US
• Hannah A. Clevenson · Cambridge, US
• Danielle A. Braje · Winchester, US
• Christopher Michael McNally · Cambridge, US
• John F. Barry · Cambridge, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jul 6, 2020
• Grant date: May 31, 2022
• Expiry date: Jul 24, 2040

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01R33/323
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A magnetometer containing a crystal sensor with solid-state defects senses the magnitude and direction of a magnetic field. The solid-state defects in the crystal sensor absorb microwave and optical energy to transition between several energy states while emitting light intensity indicative of their spin states. The magnetic field alters the spin-state transitions of the solid-state defects by amounts depending on the solid-state defects' orientations with respect to the magnetic field. The optical read out, reporting the spin state of an ensemble of solid-state defects from one particular orientation class, can be used to lock microwave signals to the resonances associated with the spin-state transitions. The frequencies of the locked microwave signals can be used to reconstruct the magnetic field vector.