Room-temperature Composite-pulses for Robust Diamond Magnetometry

Abstract: The sensitivity of a practical quantum magnetometer is challenged by both inhomogeneous coupling between sensors and environment and errors in quantum control. Based on the physical criteria of modern quantum sensing, we present a robust and effective composite-pulse for high fidelity operation against inhomogeneous broadening of sensor and control errors via optimized modulation of control field. Such a technique is verified on nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond to keep almost perfect operation up to a detuning as larger as $110\%$. The sensitivity of the magnetometer with NV center ensemble is experimentally improved by a factor of $4$, comparing to dynamical decoupling with normal rectangular pulse. Our work marks an important step towards high trustworthy ultra-sensitive quantum sensing with imperfect quantum control in realistic systems. The used principle however, is universal and not restricted to NV center ensemble magnetometer.