Searching for Exotic Spin-Dependent Interactions with Diamond-Based Vector Magnetometer

We propose a new method to search for exotic spin-spin interactions between electrons and nucleons using a diamond-based vector magnetometer. The vector magnetometer can be constructed from ensembles of nitrogen-vacancy centers along different axes in a diamond. The ¹⁴N nuclear spins of nitrogen-vacancy centers in the same diamond can be polarized through the dynamic nuclear polarization method to serve as spin sources. With the vector magnetometer, the sought-after exotic interactions can be distinguished from the magnetic dipole-dipole interaction. For the axion-mediated interaction VPP, new upper bounds of the coupling |gPᵉ gPN| are expected within the force range from 10 nm to 100 μm. For the $ Z' $-mediated interaction VAA, new upper bounds of the coupling |gAᵉ gAN| are expected within the force range from 10 nm to 1 cm. The new upper bounds for VPP and VAA are both expected to be more than 5 orders of magnitude more stringent than existing constraints at the force range of 1 μm with the total measurement time of one day.