Diamond contact-less micrometric temperature sensors

An alternative approach for high-speed temperature measurement with micrometer-scale spatial resolution based on the luminescence of Ni-doped diamond micro-particles is described. Under picosecond pulsed laser excitation, these particles exhibit intense green luminescence; the lifetime of this luminescence decreases by several orders of magnitude upon heating from 120 K up to 900 K. The intensity of the luminescence remains constant over this temperature range. Real-time measurements were performed with repetition rates of up to 100 Hz with a temperature resolution of better than 1 °C.