Figure 6 shows a typical graph measured from the green light set-up. This signal follows the same principle as the example shown in figure 4(b) but it is slightly more complicated for two reasons. We work with a big diamond with many NV centres, giving us even more peaks. The peaks do however always come in pairs, so even though the data looks more complicated, the principle is the same: we can see how big the magnetic field is in a specific direction by looking at how far apart a pair of peaks in the signal level is.

Magnetic fields are continually around us in forms waves, we can not hear or see them but we use systems to detect them. A new idea is to use green light and diamonds to detect these fields. Diamonds consist of carbon atoms, and some have colour created by impurities (other materials that aren’t carbon in the structure). The systems we use to measure magnetic fields is an impurity with a nitrogen atom instead of a carbon one.

When a magnet is present, we get two distinct drops in the intensity of the red light because we have both levels b and c that emit less.

[1] Changkyun Im and Jong-Mo Seo, A Review of Electrodes for the Electrical Brain Signal Recording, Biomed Eng Lett 6, 104-112 (2016), 10.1007/​s13534-016-0235-1. https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1007/​s13534-016-0235-1

We start with the simplest case, where we have nothing affecting the NV centre in the diamond; this is shown in figure 2(a). The line at the bottom shows the lowest energy that the system can have. This is the state that the system likes the best. Down here the system can be in one of three quantum mechanical states. These quantum states are abstract and difficult to illustrate. For this article, we can think of them as just other energy levels that have only tiny differences in energy. To tell them apart we give them different names, let us call them a, b, and c.

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It emerged c. 1500 in the sense of "determined, decided, absolute, final," especially in the phrase resolute answer, which was "common in 16th c." [OED]. The notion is of "breaking (something) into parts" as the way to arrive at the truth of it and thus make the final determination (compare resolution).

Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) centres in diamonds have quantum properties that allow them to sense weak magnetic fields. This is relevant both for research and health care as diamond magnetometers have the potential of being both cheaper and less inva- sive than current methods. The measurements are usually done by giving the NV centres energy from green laser light and detecting red light that they then emit. In this paper, we give an introduction to that technique before explaining a new measurement method where we do not need to measure any red light but can just look at how much of the green laser light that the diamond absorbs [7].

As a rule of thumb, systems in nature try to stay in the lowest energy level, if nothing is supplying them with energy from the outside. In figure 2, you find a diagram of the energy level structure of the NV centre. In the figure, we also see the effect of shining green laser light on the diamond.

In Middle English also "vaporize a solid, condense a vapor into a liquid, etc.;" a mid-15c. document has Sche was resoluyd in-to terys where a later writer might have she dissolved in tears. Related: Resolved; resolving.

In mid-15c. it also meant "frame of mind," often implying a pious or moral determination. By 1580s as "a statement upon some matter;" hence "formal decision or expression of a meeting or assembly," c. 1600. The New Year's resolution in reference to a specific intention to better oneself is from at least the 1780s, and through 19c. they generally were of a pious nature.

The green light can only be absorbed when the system is down in the levels a/b/c. Once it already has energy and is up in A/B/C or on the shelf, it cannot absorb more green light until it has fallen back down. Remember that it takes the system longer to go back down when it takes the long route through the shelf [4]. This means that there will be a longer time where it cannot absorb the green light. The light just passes through instead. So, if we measure how much green light comes through the diamond, there will be more when the system goes through the shelf than when it takes the direct route. It takes the long route when in b/c, so we can get a graph sort of like the one shown in figure 4(b), but where we get peaks in green light, were we had dips in the red before. Just as before, we look at how far apart the peaks in the signal are to determine how big a magnetic field is present.

When the goal is sensing, the interesting thing about quantum systems is that the energies that the system can have are restricted. It has to be some fixed level. Thinking of it in everyday terms: It is like the volume on your phone. You can increase it in predefined steps but simply cannot put it in between those. Quantum systems are very sensitive so even small changes in the environment will affect which energy level the system is in. The Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) centre in diamond is useful for magnetic sensing because of which energies the system is allowed to take.

[5] H. Hanzawa, H. Nishikori, Y. Nisida et al., Zeeman effect on the zero-phonon line of the NV center in synthetic diamond, Physica B 184 (1993), 10.1016/​0921-4526(93)90337-6. https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1016/​0921-4526(93)90337-6

[4] F. Jelezko, C. Tietz, A. Gruber, et al., Spectroscopy of N-V centers in diamond, Single molecules 2, 4 (2001), 110.1002/​1438-5171.

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Now we can introduce an alternative method building on the same principle. Here we do not look at how much red light comes out of the diamond but how much green light disappears.

From the notion of "process of resolving or reducing a non-material thing into simpler forms" (late 14c.) as a method of problem-solving comes the sense of "a solving" (as of mathematical problems), which is recorded by 1540s, as is that of "power of holding firmly, character of acting with a fixed purpose" (compare resolute (adj.)).

[7] Sepehr Ahmadi, Haitham A. R. El-Ella, Adam M. Wojciechowski, Tobias Gehring, Jørn B. Hansen, Alexander Huck, and Ulrik L. Andersen, Nitrogen- V acancy Ensemble Magnetometry Based on Pump Absorption, Phys. Rev. B 97, 024105 (2018) 10.1103/​PhysRevB.97.024105. https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1103/​PhysRevB.97.024105

The stronger the magnetic field is, the further apart the levels b and c are which means that the two dips move further apart. By seeing how far they are from each other, we can tell how big a magnetic field the diamond senses!

Working with and improving on diamond-based magnetometers is exciting and important because it can play a large role in both research and health care. There is much we do not know about the world of magnetism, simply because we have not been able to measure the fields. This includes understanding how birds and insects navigate or how our brains work.

This View is published in Quantum Views under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license. Copyright remains with the original copyright holders such as the authors or their institutions.

We can also still use laser light to increase the energy of the system. If we have the green light and the wrong amount of microwave energy (either too little or too much because remember with quantum levels there is no in between), the system will go between a and A via the direct route shown in figure 2(d) which means that it emits red light. If we have both green light and microwaves with the right energy, then the system will instead go from b/c to B/C and now it passes by the shelf, as shown in figure 2(e) so it is slower and we get no light out. This means that by looking at how much red light the diamond emits we know which quantum state it was in!

When measuring on NV centres in diamond you sweep through the energy of the microwaves while keeping an eye on how much red light you get out [6]. When you have just the right amount of energy, you will change which state the system is in, and you will see a drop in the amount of red light as shown in figure 4.

Just like the light, the microwaves have energy, but they have much less. They cannot get the electron to go from a/b/c at the bottom to A/B/C at the top. Instead, it can change if the system is in a, b ̧or c while still staying down at the low energy level.

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The mirrors reflect the light back and forth such that it passes the diamond many times, which means that a bigger fraction has a chance of getting absorbed. The mirrors are designed to let a little bit of the light get out and that is where we have a detector monitoring the changes in the intensity.

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Magnetic fields are all around us. They are like light, sound, or the microwaves that allow for wireless internet. We cannot see or hear the magnetic fields, but we can build systems that allow us to detect them. A well-known example is a compass that reveals the magnetic field of the Earth. When an electrical current moves it generates a magnetic field around it. This also happens in the body when the brain talks to everything else via tiny electrical signals running through nerves [1]. This means that being able to detect magnetic fields can help us understand biology better as well as lead to better diagnosis of known diseases. The challenge is that these magnetic fields are very faint. A signal in the brain, for example, is ten billion times smaller than the field of the Earth [2,3]. So, a normal compass will not do. Instead, we turn to quantum technologies to be able to measure such fields.

By Louise F. Frellsen and Sepehr Ahmadi (Department of Physics, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark).

[2] Hervé Gilles, Yves Monfort and Joseph Hamel, 3He maser for earth magnetic field measurement, Review of scientific Instruments 74,04515 (2003), 10.1063/​1.1605494. https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1063/​1.1605494

What was just described is how the energy system looks if we have only the diamond and NV centres. To measure magnetic fields we need something more: we need to apply microwaves.

With our measurements, it was shown for the first time that it is possible to record magnetic fields with NV centres using only the green light.

Pure diamond consists of carbon atoms locked into a lattice, as shown in figure 1. Some diamonds have colour and in those the colour comes from impurities – that is some other material than carbon sitting in lattice. The quantum system that we use to measure magnetic fields is an impurity with a Nitrogen atom next to where a carbon atom is missing and there is an extra electron [4]. This is shown in figure 1(b).

To understand this better we look closer at the low energy quantum states. In figure 3(a) we see that a has a lower energy than b and c do. The difference is just tiny compared to the one between for example a and A. By applying microwaves with just the right energy we can choose if the system is in state a or b/c.

late 14c., resolucioun, "a breaking or reducing into parts; process of breaking up, dissolution," from Old French resolution (14c.) and directly from Latin resolutionem (nominative resolutio) "process of reducing things into simpler forms," noun of action from past-participle stem of resolvere "to loosen" (see resolve (v.)).

The meaning "steadfastness of purpose" is by 1580s. The meaning "effect of an optical instrument in rendering component parts of objects distinguishable" is by 1860. In Middle English it also could mean "a paraphrase" (as a breaking up and rearranging of a text or translation).

early 15c., "dissolved, of loose structure," also "morally lax" (senses all obsolete), from Latin resolutus, past participle of resolvere "untie, unfasten, loose, loosen" (see resolve (v.)).

Chelsea Manawaduge, Leonardo Bruzze, Emmanuel Tang, and Guru VenkateswaranGrade 8 (ages 13–15)Cherrybrook Technology High School, Sydney, AustraliaThe reviewers consented to publication of their names as stated

[6] Eric van Oort and Max Glasbeek, Fluorescence detected level-anticrossing and spin coherence of a localized triplet state in diamond, Chemical Physics 152 (1991), 10.1016/​0301-0104(91)85011-5. https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1016/​0301-0104(91)85011-5

Although the system prefers to be down at the bottom it can be pushed up to a level with higher energy if we supply it some from the outside. This can be done by shooting it with a green laser. The green laser has so much energy that it does not just go to the second energy level, it goes up really high as shown in figure 2(b). In figure 2(c), we see that the system quickly falls down to a separate high energy level. This energy level is the same as the lowest one in regards to quantum states – so we call it A, B, and C.

NV centres in diamonds are especially good tools for this, because the diamonds do not harm biological samples and the system operates at room temperature. This would make magnetic field sensors cheaper and more readily available in health care, where important scans of brain activity and nerve signals could help detect where a problem is so that patients can get the right treatment.

late 14c., resolven, "melt, dissolve, reduce to liquid; separate into component parts; alter, alter in form or nature by application of physical process," " intransitive sense from c. 1400; from Old French resolver or directly from Latin resolvere "to loosen, loose, unyoke, undo; explain; relax; set free; make void, dispel."

[1] Neil Savage, "How quantum diamonds work: from imaging magnetic fields to detecting viruses", Nature 591 7851, S38 (2021).

This is from re-, here perhaps intensive or meaning "back" (see re-), + solvere "to loosen, untie, release, explain," from PIE *se-lu-, from reflexive pronoun *s(w)e- (see idiom) + root *leu- "to loosen, divide, cut apart."

Now we are getting close to understanding how to measure the magnetic fields. The core of the matter is that a magnet will also affect the quantum states. So by bringing a magnet close to the diamond we can split up the b and c levels too [5]. When they are split, it means that we need a different amount of microwave energy to reach each of those levels as shown in figure 3(b).

The word has been used from 1530s of persons, "determined in mind, having a fixed resolve." Related: Resolutely; resoluteness. In Middle English a resolutif was a medicine to dissolve and disperse hardened matter (c. 1400).

As the system wants to have the lowest energy possible, it will fall back down to a/b/c over time. It can go by two different routes: It can go directly as shown in figure 2(d), this is fast and it makes the system emit red light. Alternatively, the system can go down to the low energy through a slower route by visiting the shelf level as shown in figure 2(e). If it takes the long way around, it emits no red light.

The method is advantageous because we get only very little red light out, while we have quite a lot of green. Light can get trapped inside the diamond because of reflections, but if we look at the difference between green light we put it and green light we get out that does not matter as the losses due to trapping will be a constant difference. The reason that this method has not been demonstrated before is that the ratio of green light in to green light out is tiny. We are capable of measuring it only because we have an experimental set-up including a cavity. The cavity consists of two mirrors placed on either side of the diamond, as shown in figure 5.

[3] M. Kotani, K. Aihara, T. Numajiri, T. Takabe and Y. Uchikawa, Brain magnetic Field measurement and model Analysis, IEEE Translation Journal on magnetics in Japan 2, 9 (1987), 110.1109/​TJMJ.1987.4549632.

From the notion of "separate into components" comes the sense in optics (1785; see resolution). From the notion of "reduce by mental analysis into its basic forms" (late 14c.) comes the meaning "determine, decide upon" after analysis (1520s), hence "pass a resolution" (1580s); "decide, settle" a dispute, etc. (1610s). For sense evolution, compare resolute (adj.).