The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centre in diamond has proven to be a highly sensitive, atomic-sized magnetometer¹. Incorporating such a defect within a scanning AFM tip combines this magnetic sensitivity with nanoscale spatial resolution, opening a wide variety of sensing applications². The development of all-diamond scanning probes has led to significant improvement in sensitivity and resolution of such scanning magnetometry due to better NV properties, improved optical collection efficiency and better control of the NV-sample standoff distance³. This system has allowed imaging of many magnetic materials at a level previously inaccessible. In this talk I will present recent achievements in this field by the Basel Quantum Sensing Group including the imaging of domains in antiferromagnetic materials and pinning sites in superconductors⁴.

[1] Rondin, L., et al. Magnetometry with nitrogen-vacancy defects in diamond. Rep Prog Phys, 56503. (2014)

[2] Chernobrod, B. M., & Berman, G. P. Spin microscope based on optically detected magnetic resonance. Journal of Applied Physics, 97(1). (2005)

[3] Maletinsky, P., et al. A robust scanning diamond sensor for nanoscale imaging with single nitrogen-vacancy centres. Nature Nanotechnology, 320–4. (2012)

[4] Thiel, L., et al. Quantitative nanoscale vortex-imaging using a cryogenic quantum magnetometer. Nature Nanotechnology, 677–681. (2016)