Using a single nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond to detect microwave magnetic field vectors at resonant frequency

This study introduces a method for reconstructing vector microwave magnetic fields using a single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in locally strong effective fields with two different orientations in diamond, without the previously required external magnetic field. Due to the varying orientations of the effective fields, NV centers exhibit two distinct sets of switchable ground states. The resonant Rabi oscillations of an NV center in these two distinct states were utilized to reconstruct vector microwave magnetic fields. Remarkably, this technique achieves an angular resolution of 0.02 mrad/Hz. Overcoming the limitations inherent in previous practices of using NV ensembles, this breakthrough has the potential to substantially enhance both the spatial resolution and the sensitivity of microwave magnetic field imaging, a meaningful development for various scientific and technological applications.