Quenching nitrogen–vacancy center photoluminescence with an infrared pulsed laser

Diamond nanocrystals containing nitrogen–vacancy (NV) color centers have been used in recent years as fluorescent probes for near-field and cellular imaging. In this work, we report that an infrared (IR) pulsed excitation beam can quench the photoluminescence of a NV color center in a diamond nanocrystal (size <50 nm) with an extinction ratio as high as ≈90%. We attribute this effect to the heating of the nanocrystal consecutive to multi-photon absorption by the diamond matrix. This quenching is reversible: the photoluminescence intensity goes back to its original value when the IR laser beam is turned off, with a typical response time of 100 ps, allowing for fast control of NV color center photoluminescence. We used this effect to achieve the sub-diffraction-limited imaging of fluorescent diamond nanocrystals on a coverglass. For that, as in the ground state depletion super-resolution technique, we combined the green excitation laser beam with the control IR depleting one after shaping its intensity profile in a doughnut form, so that the emission comes only from the sub-wavelength size central part. (paper)