Wide band magnetometry based on color centers with transverse zero-field splitting

Abstract: Solid-state color centers embedded in diamond, silicon carbide (SiC) and other host-matrices offer a promising platform for nanoscale quantum sensing. Sometimes a relatively strong transverse zero-field splitting (ZFS) is introduced in a color center due to its local strain and low symmetry of the host structure. While clock transitions induced by transverse zero-field splitting (ZFS) serve as a method to prolong the coherence time, the Zeeman sub-levels of solid-state color centers become insensitive to first-order magnetic field signals, thereby limiting their utility as magnetometers. In this work, we address this challenge and achieve wide band AC field detection spanning from hundreds of kHz to hundreds of MHz by utilizing a combination of orthogonal microwaves and phase modulation at different frequencies. Our control method effectively suppresses the system noise and the amplitude fluctuation of the driving field, which extends the coherence time of the quantum system.