All-Optical Wide-Field Magnetometry with Van Der Waals Quantum Sensor

Abstract

Negatively charged boron vacancy ($V_B^-$) centers in hexagonal boron nitride ($h$-BN) have attracted wide-range interests owing to their van der Waals lattice and their potentials for $in$-$situ$ quantum sensing. Here we propose and experimentally demonstrate an all-optical strategy for wide-field magnetometry based on $V_B^-$ centers. This strategy exploits the magnetically sensitive ground-state level anti-crossing (GSLAC) of $V_B^-$ centers, which induces a strong electron spin transition between $m_S = 0$ and $m_S = -1$ states, enabling microwave-free magnetic field measurement. By monitoring the shift of GSLAC feature, the external magnetic field can be precisely determined. Using this technique, we demonstrate all-optical wide-field imaging of near-field DC magnetic field distribution from current-carrying circuits over an area of around 42 $\times$ 21 $μ$m$^2$. An estimated photon shot-noise-limited sensitivity of 67.1 $μ$T/$\sqrt{\text{Hz}}$ is achieved for a single pixel, which is an approximately threefold improvement over the ODMR method, along with a spatial resolution of about 1 $μ$m per pixel. Our approach expands the applicability of $V_B^-$ centers in quantum sensing, paving the way for robust and convenient magnetometry under extreme conditions.