We are delighted to announce a talk by 

Prof. Jean-François Roch

ENS Paris-Saclay (France)

On the 1st of August 2017, 2pm, at the Rayleigh Seminar room in the Maxwell Centre you will be able to hear about:

Measuring the magnetic properties of materials using defects in diamond

The ability to quantitatively map magnetic field distributions is of crucial importance for fundamental studies ranging from materials science to biology, and for the development of new devices e.g. in spintronics. Recently it has been demonstrated that scanning magnetometry based on a single spin associated to an impurity hosted in a solid is an efficient technique which combines high sensitivity and nanoscale resolution. The sensing signal relies on the optical detection of the electron spin resonance associated with a single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond attached to a AFM tip. The magnitude of the stray magnetic field produced by a magnetic sample can then be determined from the Zeeman shifts of the energy levels associated to this artificial atom in the solid state. I will present our development of a scanning magnetometer based on NV centers in a nanodiamond grafted at the apex of a AFM tip.

By adapting this technique to the specific environment of a diamond anvil cell (DAC), it will be possible to explore novel type of order in condensed matter that appear at ultra-high pressure, with associated new forms of fundamental properties such as magnetism and superconductivity. I will describe our preliminary results for magnetic sensing above 10 GPa pressure.

These developments are integrated in a joint team with the Research Center of Thales R&T (Palaiseau, France).  I will describe the goals of this academic-industry partnership.