Atomic-Scale Nuclear Spin Imaging Using Quantum-Assisted Sensors in Diamond

Nuclear spin imaging at the atomic level is essential for the understanding of fundamental biological phenomena and for applications such as drug discovery. The advent of novel nanoscale sensors promises to achieve the long-standing goal of single-protein, high spatial-resolution structure determina...

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Main Authors: Ajoy, Ashok, Bissbort, U, Lukin, M. D., Walsworth, R. L., Cappellaro, Paola
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Physical Society 2015
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/92977
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0544-5263
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3207-594X
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author Ajoy, Ashok
Bissbort, U
Lukin, M. D.
Walsworth, R. L.
Cappellaro, Paola
author2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering
author_facet Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering
Ajoy, Ashok
Bissbort, U
Lukin, M. D.
Walsworth, R. L.
Cappellaro, Paola
author_sort Ajoy, Ashok
collection MIT
description Nuclear spin imaging at the atomic level is essential for the understanding of fundamental biological phenomena and for applications such as drug discovery. The advent of novel nanoscale sensors promises to achieve the long-standing goal of single-protein, high spatial-resolution structure determination under ambient conditions. In particular, quantum sensors based on the spin-dependent photoluminescence of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond have recently been used to detect nanoscale ensembles of external nuclear spins. While NV sensitivity is approaching single-spin levels, extracting relevant information from a very complex structure is a further challenge since it requires not only the ability to sense the magnetic field of an isolated nuclear spin but also to achieve atomic-scale spatial resolution. Here, we propose a method that, by exploiting the coupling of the NV center to an intrinsic quantum memory associated with the nitrogen nuclear spin, can reach a tenfold improvement in spatial resolution, down to atomic scales. The spatial resolution enhancement is achieved through coherent control of the sensor spin, which creates a dynamic frequency filter selecting only a few nuclear spins at a time. We propose and analyze a protocol that would allow not only sensing individual spins in a complex biomolecule, but also unraveling couplings among them, thus elucidating local characteristics of the molecule structure.
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spelling mit-1721.1/929772022-09-28T08:44:59Z Atomic-Scale Nuclear Spin Imaging Using Quantum-Assisted Sensors in Diamond Ajoy, Ashok Bissbort, U Lukin, M. D. Walsworth, R. L. Cappellaro, Paola Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Research Laboratory of Electronics Ajoy, Ashok Cappellaro, Paola Bissbort, U. Nuclear spin imaging at the atomic level is essential for the understanding of fundamental biological phenomena and for applications such as drug discovery. The advent of novel nanoscale sensors promises to achieve the long-standing goal of single-protein, high spatial-resolution structure determination under ambient conditions. In particular, quantum sensors based on the spin-dependent photoluminescence of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond have recently been used to detect nanoscale ensembles of external nuclear spins. While NV sensitivity is approaching single-spin levels, extracting relevant information from a very complex structure is a further challenge since it requires not only the ability to sense the magnetic field of an isolated nuclear spin but also to achieve atomic-scale spatial resolution. Here, we propose a method that, by exploiting the coupling of the NV center to an intrinsic quantum memory associated with the nitrogen nuclear spin, can reach a tenfold improvement in spatial resolution, down to atomic scales. The spatial resolution enhancement is achieved through coherent control of the sensor spin, which creates a dynamic frequency filter selecting only a few nuclear spins at a time. We propose and analyze a protocol that would allow not only sensing individual spins in a complex biomolecule, but also unraveling couplings among them, thus elucidating local characteristics of the molecule structure. United States. Army Research Office. Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (Grant W911NF-11-1-0400) United States. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Quantum-Assisted Sensing and Readout (QuASAR) Program 2015-01-20T16:15:53Z 2015-01-20T16:15:53Z 2015-01 2014-08 2015-01-07T23:00:10Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 2160-3308 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/92977 Ajoy, A. et al. “Atomic-Scale Nuclear Spin Imaging Using Quantum-Assisted Sensors in Diamond.” Physical Review X 5.1 (2015): 011001-1-011001-11. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0544-5263 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3207-594X en http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.5.011001 Physical Review X Creative Commons Attribution http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 authors application/pdf American Physical Society American Physical Society
spellingShingle Ajoy, Ashok
Bissbort, U
Lukin, M. D.
Walsworth, R. L.
Cappellaro, Paola
Atomic-Scale Nuclear Spin Imaging Using Quantum-Assisted Sensors in Diamond
title Atomic-Scale Nuclear Spin Imaging Using Quantum-Assisted Sensors in Diamond
title_full Atomic-Scale Nuclear Spin Imaging Using Quantum-Assisted Sensors in Diamond
title_fullStr Atomic-Scale Nuclear Spin Imaging Using Quantum-Assisted Sensors in Diamond
title_full_unstemmed Atomic-Scale Nuclear Spin Imaging Using Quantum-Assisted Sensors in Diamond
title_short Atomic-Scale Nuclear Spin Imaging Using Quantum-Assisted Sensors in Diamond
title_sort atomic scale nuclear spin imaging using quantum assisted sensors in diamond
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/92977
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0544-5263
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3207-594X
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