Prototype of the microwave resonator

What do microwaves have to do with quanta? And what is a resonator?

Microwave excitation in NV-based quantum sensors increases the probability that the electrons of the NV are in a state in which they are more likely not to emit fluorescent light when excited with green light.

This requires microwave excitation, e.g. in the form of a microwave resonator, which is a parallel circuit consisting of a coil and capacitor and has a resonant frequency. The microwave excitation in turn is required in order to be able to operate optically detectable magnetic resonance (ODMR).

What does this mean for QOOOL-Sensing?

The Institute for Intelligent Sensor Technology and Theoretical Electrical Engineering (IIS) at the University of Stuttgart, as our partner, are experts in intelligent sensor technology and integrated interface circuits. Yichao Peng is a research associate at the institute and designed, manufactured and tested the first prototype of a microwave (MW) resonator needed to control the nitrogen-vacancy centre (NV). He also tested the SPI interface as a synchronous serial communication interface, which is often used to connect microcontrollers to various peripheral devices such as sensors, SD cards, shift registers and displays to control the MW frequency. This makes the generator compatible with the senseBox as an easy-to-program microcontroller for data collection. The first tests were promising, we will keep you updated!