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We provide an overview of the experimental techniques, measurement modalities, and diverse applications of the Quantum Diamond Microscope (QDM). The QDM employs a dense layer of fluorescent nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color centers near the surface of a transparent diamond chip on which a sample of interest is placed. NV electronic spins are coherently probed with microwaves and optically initialized and read out to provide spatially resolved maps of local magnetic fields. NV fluorescence is measured simultaneously across the diamond surface, resulting in a wide-field, two-dimensional magnetic field image with adjustable spatial pixel size set by the parameters of the imaging system. NV measurement protocols are tailored for imaging of broadband and narrowband fields, from DC to GHz frequencies. Here we summarize the physical principles common to diverse implementations of the QDM and review example applications of the technology in geoscience, biology, and materials science.

We present a micrometer-resolution millimeter-field-of-view stress imaging method for diamonds containing a thin surface layer of nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers. In this method, we reconstruct stress tensor elements over a two-dimensional field of view from NV optically-detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) spectra. We use this technique to study how stress inhomogeneity affects NV magnetometry performance, and show how NV stress imaging is a useful and direct way to assess these effects. This new tool for mapping stress in diamond will aid optimization of NV-diamond sensing, with wide-ranging applications in the physical and life sciences.

We present revised measurements of the static electric dipole polarizabilities of K, Rb, and Cs based on atom interferometer experiments presented in [Phys. Rev. A 2015, 92, 052513] but now re-analyzed with new calibrations for the magnitude and geometry of the applied electric field gradient. The resulting polarizability values did not change, but the uncertainties were significantly reduced. Then we interpret several measurements of alkali metal atomic polarizabilities in terms of atomic oscillator strengths $f_{ik}$, Einstein coefficients $A_{ik}$, state lifetimes $\tau_{k}$, transition dipole matrix elements $D_{ik}$, line strengths $S_{ik}$, and van der Waals $C_6$ coefficients. Finally, we combine atom interferometer measurements of polarizabilities with independent measurements of lifetimes and $C_6$ values in order to quantify the residual contribution to polarizability due to all atomic transitions other than the principal $ns$-$np_J$ transitions for alkali metal atoms.

Tune-out wavelengths measured with an atom interferometer are sensitive to laboratory rotation rates because of the Sagnac effect, vector polarizability, and dispersion compensation. We observed shifts in measured tune-out wavelengths as large as 213 pm with a potassium atom beam interferometer, and we explore how these shifts can be used for an atom interferometer gyroscope.

We measured the ground-state static electric-dipole polarizabilities of Cs, Rb, and K atoms using a three-nanograting Mach-Zehnder atom beam interferometer. Our measurements provide benchmark tests for atomic structure calculations and thus test the underlying theory used to interpret atomic parity non-conservation experiments. We measured $\alpha_{\mathrm{Cs}} = 4\pi\epsilon_0 \times 59.45(11) \AA^3$, $\alpha_{\mathrm{Rb}} = 4\pi\epsilon_0 \times 47.44(9) \AA^3$, and $\alpha_{\mathrm{K}} = 4\pi\epsilon_0 \times 42.97(8) \AA^3$. In atomic units, these measurements are $\alpha_{\mathrm{Cs}} = 401.2(7)$, $\alpha_{\mathrm{Rb}} = 320.1(6)$, and $\alpha_{\mathrm{K}} = 290.0(5)$. We report ratios of polarizabilities $\alpha_{\mathrm{Cs}}/\alpha_{\mathrm{Rb}} = 1.2532(10)$, $\alpha_{\mathrm{Cs}}/\alpha_{\mathrm{K}} = 1.3835(9)$, and $\alpha_{\mathrm{Rb}}/\alpha_{\mathrm{K}} = 1.1040(9)$ with smaller fractional uncertainty because the systematic errors for individual measurements are largely correlated. Since Cs atom beams have short de Broglie wavelengths, we developed measurement methods that do not require resolved atom diffraction. Specifically, we used phase choppers to measure atomic beam velocity distributions, and we used electric field gradients to give the atom interference pattern a phase shift that depends on atomic polarizability.

We used an atom interferometer for atom optical shop testing of lenses for atomic de Broglie waves. We measured focal lengths and spherical aberrations of electrostatic lenses in three independent ways based on contrast data, phase data, or calculations of de Broglie wavefront curvature. We report focal lengths of -2.5 km and -21.7 km with 5% uncertainty for different lenses. All three methods give consistent results. Understanding how lenses magnify and distort atom interference fringes helps improve atom beam velocity measurements made with phase choppers [New J. Phys. 13, 115007 (2011)], which in turn will improve the accuracy of atomic polarizability measurements.

Light at a magic-zero wavelength causes zero energy shift for an atom. We measured the longest magic-zero wavelength for ground state potassium atoms to be $\lambda_\textrm{zero}=768.971(1)$ nm, and we show how this provides an improved experimental benchmark for atomic structure calculations. This $\lambda_\textrm{zero}$ measurement determines the ratio of the potassium atom D1 and D2 line strengths with record precision. It also demonstrates a new application for atom interferometry, and we discuss how decoherence will fundamentally limit future measurements of magic-zero wavelengths.