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Electron–photon temporal correlations in electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopies have recently been used to measure the relative quantum efficiency of materials. This combined spectroscopy, named cathodoluminescence excitation (CLE) spectroscopy, allows for the identification of excitation and decay channels, which are hidden in average measurements. Here, we demonstrate that CLE can also be used to measure excitations' decay time. In addition, the decay time as a function of the excitation energy is measured, as the energy for each electron–photon pair is probed. We used two well-known insulating materials to characterize this technique, nanodiamonds with NV0 defects and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) with 4.1 eV defects. Both also exhibit marked transition radiations, whose extremely short decay times can be used to characterize the instrumental response function. It is found to be typically 2 ns, in agreement with the expected limit of the EELS detector temporal resolution. The measured lifetimes of NV0 centers in diamond nanoparticles (20–40 ns) and 4.1 eV defect in h-BN flakes (<2 ns) match those reported previously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fixing a diamond containing a high density of Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) center ensembles on the apex of a multimode optical fiber (MMF) extends the applications of NV-based endoscope sensors. Replacing the normal MMF with a tapered MMF (MMF-taper) has enhanced the fluorescence (FL) collection efficiency from the diamond and achieved a high spatial resolution NV-based endoscope. The MMF-taper's high FL collection efficiency is the direct result of multiple internal reflections in the tapered region caused by silica, which has a higher refractive index (RI) than the surrounding air. However, for applications involving fluidic environments whose RI is close to or higher than that of the silica, the MMF-taper loses its FL collection significantly. Here, to overcome this challenge and achieve a high spatial resolution NV-based endoscope in a fluidic environment, we conceptually proposed a tapered ultra-high numerical aperture microstructured optical fiber (MOF) whose air capillaries at the tapered end are sealed. Since the end-sealed air capillaries along the tapered MOF (MOF-taper) have isolated the MOF core from the surrounding medium, the core retains its high FL collection and NV excitation efficiency in liquids regardless of their RI values. Replacing the MMF-taper with the MOF-taper will achieve a versatile NV-based endoscope that could potentially find widespread applications in fluidic environments where many biological processes and chemical reactions occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We experimentally demonstrate a simple and robust optical fiber based method to achieve simultaneously efficient excitation and fluorescence collection from Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) defects containing micro-crystalline diamond. We fabricate a suitable micro-concave mirror that focuses scattered excitation laser light into the diamond located at the focal point of the mirror. At the same instance, the mirror also couples the fluorescence light exiting out of the diamond crystal in the opposite direction of the optical fiber back into the optical fiber within its light acceptance cone. This part of fluorescence would have been otherwise lost from reaching the detector. Our proof-of-principle demonstration achieves a 25 times improvement in fluorescence collection compared to the case of not using any mirrors. The increase in light collection favors getting high signal-to-noise ratio optically detected magnetic resonance signals and hence offers a practical advantage in fiber-based NV quantum sensors. Additionally, we compacted the NV sensor system by replacing some bulky optical elements in the optical path with a 1 × 2 fiber optical coupler in our optical system. This reduces the complexity of the system and provides portability and robustness needed for applications like magnetic endoscopy and remote-magnetic sensing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy centers (N-V)- in fluorescent nanodiamond (FND) has been determined by photon correlation spectroscopy and Monte Carlo simulations at the single particle level. By taking account of the random dipole orientation of the multiple (N-V)- fluorophores and simulating the probability distribution of their effective numbers (Ne), we found that the actual number (Na) of the fluorophores is in linear correlation with Ne, with correction factors of 1.8 and 1.2 in measurements using linearly and circularly polarized lights, respectively. We determined Na=8±1 for 28 nm FND particles prepared by 3 MeV proton irradiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work demonstrates that the gold tip of an atomic force microscope enhances not only the fluorescence of the nitrogen-vacancy centers in nanodiamonds but also improves the optical resolution of the fluorescence image of the particles down to 40 nm in an apertureless near-field scanning optical microscope. With the tip in close contact with 20-30 nm diamonds, the average fluorescence intensity enhancement is 3. By measuring the fluorescence decay lifetime and the saturation intensity, we confirm that the fluorescence enhancement is contributed predominantly by the increase of the radiative decay rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A correction to the article "Quantifying the number of color centers in single fluorescent nanodiamonds by photon correlation spectroscopy and Monte Carlo simulation," is presented.