Researchers from Princeton and the University of Wisconsin-Madison have created a method to detect noise in a material by examining correlations.
Using this knowledge, they can discover the spatial structure and time-varying characteristics of the noise.
This technology, which tracks minute variations in magnetic fields, is a significant advancement over earlier ones that averaged numerous different readings.
Nitrogen-vacancy centers alter the carbon atom lattice of a diamond by substituting a nitrogen atom for a carbon atom and creating a vacancy next to it in the molecular structure.
One of the few instruments that can record changes in magnetic fields at the scale and speed required for crucial studies in quantum technology.
One of these phenomena is a quantum spin liquid, which was initially theorized in theories around 50 years ago and has been challenging to experimentally quantify.
In contrast to the solid-state stability that characterizes a normal magnetic material when cooled to a given temperature, electrons are always in flux in a quantum spin liquid.
Researchers may determine how electrons and their spins are flowing throughout space and time in a material by simultaneously monitoring magnetic fields at several sites with diamond sensors.
In order to create the novel technique, the scientists exposed a diamond with NV centers to calibrated laser pulses.
After that, they noticed two spikes in photon counts coming from a pair of NV centers, which were a readout of the electron spins at each center at the same location.