Cavity-Enhanced Room-Temperature Magnetometry Using Absorption by Nitrogen-Vacancy Centers in Diamond

We demonstrate a cavity-enhanced room-temperature magnetic field sensor based on nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond. Magnetic resonance is detected using absorption of light resonant with the 1042 nm spin-singlet transition. The diamond is placed in an external optical cavity to enhance the absorption, and significant absorption is observed even at room temperature. We demonstrate a magnetic field sensitivity of 2.5 nT/√Hz, and project a photon shot-noise-limited sensitivity of 70 pT/√Hz for a few mW of infrared light, and a quantum projection-noise-limited sensitivity of 250 fT/√Hz for the sensing volume of ${~}90 {{μ}}m×{}90 {{μ}}m×{}200 {{μ}}m$.