A quantum radio frequency signal analyzer based on nitrogen vacancy centers in diamond

Abstract The rapid development of radio-frequency (RF) technologies requires tools which can efficiently monitor the electromagnetic landscape. Broadband real-time RF spectral analyzers need to operate at room temperature, with low power consumption and have a compact design for on-board device integration. Here we describe a Quantum Diamond Signal Analyzer (Q-DiSA) which detects RF signals over a tunable frequency range of 25 GHz with frequency resolution down to 1 MHz, a millisecond temporal resolution and a large dynamic range (40 dB). This approach exploits the room temperature spin properties of an ensemble of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond. Performance is enabled via our analyzer architecture which combines a specific diamond crystallographic cut with a simplified magnetic arrangement. This allows us to maintain the alignment of the magnetic field along the nitrogen-vacancy center axis whilst frequency tuning. These results demonstrate the potential of the Q-DiSA method for real-time broadband spectral analysis.