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We investigate the optical properties of silicon-vacancy (SiV) and germanium-vacancy (GeV) color centers in nanodiamonds under hydrostatic pressure up to 180 GPa. The nanodiamonds were synthetized by Si or Ge-doped plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition and, for our experiment, pressurized in a diamond anvil cell. Under hydrostatic pressure we observe blue-shifts of the SiV and GeV zero-phonon lines by 17 THz (70 meV) and 78 THz (320 meV), respectively. These measured pressure induced shifts are in good agreement with ab initio calculations that take into account the lattice compression based on the equation of state of diamond and that are extended to the case of the tin-vacancy (SnV) center. This work provides guidance on the use of group-IV-vacancy centers as quantum sensors under extreme pressures that will exploit their specific optical and spin properties induced by their intrinsic inversion-symmetric structure., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures

We present a novel technique based on an ensemble of Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) centers in diamond to perform Magnetic Current Imaging (MCI) on an Integrated Circuit (IC). NV centers in diamond allow measuring the three components of the magnetic fields generated by a mA range current in an IC structure over a field of 50 x 200 {\mu}m^2 with sub-micron resolution. Vector measurements allow using a more robust algorithm than those used for MCI using Giant Magneto Resistance (GMR) or Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) sensors and it is opening new current reconstruction prospects. Calculated MCI from these measurements shows a very good agreement with theoretical current path. Acquisition time is around 10 sec, which is much faster than scanning measurements using SQUID or GMR. The experimental set-up relies on a standard optical microscope, and the measurements can be performed at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. These early experiments, not optimized for IC, show that NV centers in diamond could become a real alternative for MCI in IC., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures