Temperature sensing with nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers using quantum
techniques is very promising and further development is expected. Recently, the
optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) spectrum of a high-density
ensemble of the NV centers was reproduced with noise parameters [inhomogeneous
magnetic field, inhomogeneous strain (electric field) distribution, and
homogeneous broadening] of the NV center ensemble. In this study, we use ODMR
to estimate the noise parameters of the NV centers in several diamonds. These
parameters strongly depend on the spin concentration. This knowledge is then
applied to theoretically predict the temperature sensitivity. Using the
diffraction-limited volume of 0.1 micron^3, which is the typical limit in
confocal microscopy, the optimal sensitivity is estimated to be around 0.76
mK/Hz^(1/2) with an NV center concentration of 5.0e10^17/cm^3. This sensitivity
is much higher than previously reported sensitivities, demonstrating the
excellent potential of temperature sensing with NV centers.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl