Solid-state laser refrigeration of nanoscale quantum sensors
10 affiliations
- 1Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195
- 2Department of Chemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195
- 3Physical Sciences Division, Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352
- 4Molecular Engineering and Sciences Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195
- 5Institute of Optics, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627
- 6Center for Coherence and Quantum Optics, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627
- 7Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627
- 8Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556
- 9Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556
- 10Materials Science Program, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627
Abstract
Photothermal heating remains a major challenge during the optical excitation of nanoscale quantum sensors [C. Bradac, S. F. Lim, H. C. Chang, I. Aharonovich, Adv. Opt. Mater. 8, 2000183 (2020)]. At low laser powers, heating of the sensor leads to the thermal drift of quantum electronic transition energies. At high laser powers, sensors degrade due to thermally induced phase transitions, including melting. Here, we report a general approach for mitigating the photothermal heating of nanoscale quantum sensors through solid-state laser refrigeration of the sensors’ underlying substrate. Experimentally, both nanodiamonds and gold nanocrystals are attached separately to a ceramic laser-cooling substrate through van der Waals interaction. A combination of Debye–Waller factor thermometry and optically detected magnetic resonance spectroscopy of nitrogen vacancy centers is used to demonstrate that solid-state laser refrigeration of the substrate can reduce the temperature of attached nanodiamond payloads by 25 ± 3 K below steady-state operating temperatures. Stokes/anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy is used to demonstrate reduced photothermal heating of plasmonic gold nanocrystals by 8.8 ± 2.7 K during surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy sensing of rhodamine-6G molecules. These results suggest that solid-state laser cooling could open up experimental possibilities for rapid feedback-controlled cooling of a wide range of nanoscale quantum resources.
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BibTeX
@article{feng2026solidstate,
title = {{Solid-state laser refrigeration of nanoscale quantum sensors}},
author = {Zhaojie Feng and Anupum Pant and Robert G. Felsted and Alexander B. Bard and Xiaojing Xia and Siamak Dadras and Kamran Shayan and Danika R. Luntz-Martin and Donald Mannikko and Lars Forberger and Alexey Soldatenko and Ilia M. Pavlovetc and Stefan Stoll and Masaru Kuno and A. Nickolas Vamivakas and Peter J. Pauzauskie},
journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1073/pnas.2534326123},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2534326123},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Solid-state laser refrigeration of nanoscale quantum sensors
AU - Zhaojie Feng
AU - Anupum Pant
AU - Robert G. Felsted
AU - Alexander B. Bard
AU - Xiaojing Xia
AU - Siamak Dadras
AU - Kamran Shayan
AU - Danika R. Luntz-Martin
AU - Donald Mannikko
AU - Lars Forberger
AU - Alexey Soldatenko
AU - Ilia M. Pavlovetc
AU - Stefan Stoll
AU - Masaru Kuno
AU - A. Nickolas Vamivakas
AU - Peter J. Pauzauskie
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/26
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
DO - 10.1073/pnas.2534326123
UR - https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2534326123
AB - Photothermal heating remains a major challenge during the optical excitation of nanoscale quantum sensors [C. Bradac, S. F. Lim, H. C. Chang, I. Aharonovich, Adv. Opt. Mater. 8, 2000183 (2020)]. At low laser powers, heating of the sensor leads to the thermal drift of quantum electronic transition energies. At high laser powers, sensors degrade due to thermally induced phase transitions, including melting. Here, we report a general approach for mitigating the photothermal heating of nanoscale quantum sensors through solid-state laser refrigeration of the sensors’ underlying substrate. Experimentally, both nanodiamonds and gold nanocrystals are attached separately to a ceramic laser-cooling substrate through van der Waals interaction. A combination of Debye–Waller factor thermometry and optically detected magnetic resonance spectroscopy of nitrogen vacancy centers is used to demonstrate that solid-state laser refrigeration of the substrate can reduce the temperature of attached nanodiamond payloads by 25 ± 3 K below steady-state operating temperatures. Stokes/anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy is used to demonstrate reduced photothermal heating of plasmonic gold nanocrystals by 8.8 ± 2.7 K during surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy sensing of rhodamine-6G molecules. These results suggest that solid-state laser cooling could open up experimental possibilities for rapid feedback-controlled cooling of a wide range of nanoscale quantum resources.
SN - 0027-8424
SN - 1091-6490
ER -