Magnetic detection system with highly integrated diamond nitrogen vacancy sensor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10459041-B2
Application number	US-201715469374-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 24, 2017
Priority date	Mar 24, 2017
Publication date	Oct 29, 2019
Grant date	Oct 29, 2019

Abstract

A system for magnetic detection includes a housing including a top plate, bottom plate, side plate, and main plate provided between the side plate and the bottom plate; a magneto-optical defect center material including at least one magneto-optical defect center that emits an optical signal when excited by an excitation light; a radio frequency (RF) exciter system configured to provide RF excitation to the magneto-optical defect center material; an optical light source configured to direct the excitation light to the magneto-optical defect center material; and an optical detector configured to receive the optical signal emitted by the magneto-optical defect center material. The elements of the system are mounted to the main plate and capable of being unattached and remounted to the main plate to change at least one of a location or an angle of incidence of the excitation light on the magneto-optical defect center material.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for magnetic detection, comprising:
a housing comprising:
a top plate;
a bottom plate;
at least one side plate; and
a main plate provided between the side plate and the bottom plate;

a magneto-optical defect center material comprising at least one magneto-optical defect center that emits an optical signal when excited by an excitation light,
a radio frequency (RF) exciter system configured to provide RF excitation to the magneto-optical defect center material;
an optical excitation system configured to direct the excitation light to the magneto-optical defect center material; and
an optical detector configured to receive the optical signal emitted by the magneto-optical defect center material based on the excitation light and the RF excitation,
wherein the top plate, the bottom plate, the at least one side plate and a portion of the main plate form an enclosure that contains the magneto-optical defect center material, the RF exciter system, the optical excitation system, and the optical detector, and
wherein the magneto-optical defect center material, the RF exciter system, the optical excitation system, and the optical detector are mounted to the main plate and capable of being unattached and remounted to the main plate to change at least one of a location or an angle of incidence of the excitation light on the magneto-optical defect center material.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the main plate includes a plurality of holes positioned to allow the magneto-optical defect center material, the RF exciter system, the optical excitation system, and the optical detector to be mounted to the main plate in a selected location from a plurality of locations on the main plate.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein a location of the magneto-optical defect center material, the RF exciter system, the optical excitation system, or the optical detector is changeable independent of one another.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein
the top plate is made from Noryl;
the bottom plate is made from stainless steel, aluminum or copper;
the at least one side plate is made from Noryl, and
the main plate is made from Noryl.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the housing further comprises one or more separation plates configured to isolate at least one of the magneto-optical defect center material, the RF exciter system, the optical excitation system, and the optical detector within the housing.

6. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a gasket configured to hermetically seal the top plate, the bottom plate, the at least one side plate, and the main plate together.

7. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a hydrogen absorber positioned within the housing, the hydrogen absorber configured to absorb hydrogen released by materials used in the system for magnetic detection.

8. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a nitrogen cooling system configured to cool or otherwise reduce thermal loading on components of the system for magnetic detection.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the top plate or the bottom plate include cooling fins configured to thermally dissipate heat transferred to the at least one of the top plate or the bottom plate.

10. The system of claim 9 , further comprising a nitrogen cooling system configured to cool or otherwise reduce thermal loading on components of the system for magnetic detection,
wherein the nitrogen cooling system is in thermal communication with the at least one of the top plate or the bottom plate including the cooling fins such that heat removed by the nitrogen cooling system is convectively dissipated to atmosphere via the cooling fins.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the magneto-optical defect center material comprises a nitrogen vacancy (NV) diamond material comprising at least one NV center.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the magneto-optical defect center material comprises a nitrogen vacancy (NV) diamond material comprising a plurality of NV centers.

13. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a controller programmed to:
receive an indication of a frequency of the excitation light;
receive an indication of a frequency of the optical signal emitted by the magneto-optical defect center material; and
determine a magnitude of an external magnetic field based at least in part on a comparison between the frequency of the excitation light and the frequency of the optical signal emitted by the magneto-optical defect center material.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the controller is further programmed to determine a direction of the external magnetic field based at least in part on a comparison between the frequency of the excitation light and the frequency of the optical signal emitted by the magneto-optical defect center material.

15. The system of claim 1 , further comprising at least one thermal electric cooler mounted to a bottom surface of the main plate, the at least one thermal electric cooler configured to remove heat from the main plate to maintain a predetermined temperature of the main plate.

16. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a red collection system comprising a photo diode, a light pipe, and at least one filter,
wherein the red collection system is configured to filter the optical signal emitted by the magneto-optical defect center material and measure a red light emitted by the magneto-optical defect center material.

17. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a green collection system comprising a photo diode, a light pipe, and at least one filter,
wherein the green collection system is configured to filter the optical signal emitted by the magneto-optical defect center material and measure a green light emitted by the magneto-optical defect center material.

18. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a beam trap configured to capture any portion of the excitation light that is not absorbed by the magneto-optical defect center material.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the beam trap is configured to capture a green light portion of the excitation light that is not absorbed by the magneto-optical defect center material.

20. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a red collection system comprising a red photo diode, a red light pipe, and at least one red filter, wherein the red collection system is configured to filter the optical signal emitted by the magneto-optical defect center material and measure a red light emitted by the magneto-optical defect center material; and
a green collection system comprising a green photo diode, a green light pipe, and at least one green filter, wherein the green collection system is configured to filter the optical signal emitted by the magneto-optical defect center material and measure a green light emitted by the magneto-optical defect center material.

21. The system of claim 20 , further comprising a beam trap configured to capture any portion of the excitation light that is not absorbed by the magneto-optical defect center material.

22. The system of claim 21 , wherein the beam trap is configured to capture a green light portion of the excitation light that is not absorbed by the magneto-optical defect center material.

23. The system of claim 1 , wherein the optical excitation system comprises an optical excitation assembly configured to be attached to a base structure, the optical excitation assembly comprising:
an optical excitation source;
a slot configured t

Assignees

• Lockheed Corp

Inventors

• Hahn Joseph W
• Jackson Kenneth Michael
• Luzod Nicholas M
• Bruce Gregory Scott
• Lew Wilbur
• Stetson Jr John B
• Huynh Duc
• MANDEVILLE Andrew Raymond
• Manickam Arul
• Kaup Peter G

Classifications

• G01R33/032 Primary

  using magneto-optic devices, e.g. Faraday {or Cotton-Mouton effect} · CPC title