posted on 2023-01-05, 14:58authored byRichard Monge, Tom Delord, Nicholas V. Proscia, Zav Shotan, Harishankar Jayakumar, Jacob Henshaw, Pablo R. Zangara, Artur Lozovoi, Daniela Pagliero, Pablo D. Esquinazi, Toshu An, Inti Sodemann, Vinod M. Menon, Carlos A. Meriles
A broad effort is underway to understand and harness
the interaction
between superconductors and spin-active color centers with an eye
on hybrid quantum devices and novel imaging modalities of superconducting
materials. Most work, however, overlooks the interplay between either
system and the environment created by the color center host. Here
we use a diamond scanning probe to investigate the spin dynamics of
a single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center proximal to a superconducting
film. We find that the presence of the superconductor increases the
NV spin coherence lifetime, a phenomenon we tentatively rationalize
as a change in the electric noise due to a superconductor-induced
redistribution of charge carriers near induced redistribution of charge
carriers near the NV. We then build on these findings to demonstrate
transverse-relaxation-time-weighted imaging of the superconductor
film. These results shed light on the dynamics governing the spin
coherence of shallow NVs, and promise opportunities for new forms
of noise spectroscopy and imaging of superconductors.