Portable Magnetic Camera Using NV Centers

Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond have become a powerful tool for wide-field magnetic field imaging. However, the conventional magnetic field imaging system based on NV centers relies on experimental platforms and is not mobile, resulting in limited working scenarios. In this article, we have designed a portable magnetic camera (PMC, volume:
$3.7~{\mathrm {dm}}^{3}$
) using NV centers and demonstrated its imaging of vector magnetic field at the bent portion of integrated circuit board wiring (width:
$200~{\mu }\mathrm {m}$
), which reduces footprint by more than 90% compared to magnetic imaging platforms built on top of optical platforms. In addition, a corresponding control box (volume:
$6.7~{\mathrm {dm}}^{3}$
) was designed to integrate the large equipment required for the experiment inside to improve portability. The PMC integrates the optical module and the data acquisition (DAQ) module. The control box integrates a microwave board to provide microwave signals to the PMC to control the NV centers quantum states and integrates a DAQ module to collect data. Our study shows that the experimental results are very similar to the theoretical simulation of the electromagnetic field (maximum error: 8%). The magnetic sensitivity of the PMC is about
$1.825~{\mu }\mathrm {T/Hz}^{1/2}$
with a spatial resolution of
$2.5~{\mu }\mathrm {m}$
and a temporal resolution of
$5.5~\mathbf {ms}$
. The device can be used immediately in industrial applications, where precise magnetic field imaging is required, providing a new direction in the practical application of NV centers magnetic field imaging system.