Imaging nuclear spins weakly coupled to a probe paramagnetic center
At a Glance
Section titled āAt a Glanceā| Metadata | Details |
|---|---|
| Publication Date | 2015-05-11 |
| Journal | Physical Review B |
| Authors | Abdelghani Laraoui, Daniela Pagliero, Carlos A. Meriles |
| Institutions | City College of New York |
| Citations | 15 |
Abstract
Section titled āAbstractāOptically-detected paramagnetic centers in wide-bandgap semiconductors are\nemerging as a promising platform for nanoscale metrology at room temperature.\nOf particular interest are applications where the center is used as a probe to\ninterrogate other spins that cannot be observed directly. Using the\nnitrogen-vacancy center in diamond as a model system, we propose a new strategy\nto determining the spatial coordinates of weakly coupled nuclear spins. The\ncentral idea is to label the target nucleus with a spin polarization that\ndepends on its spatial location, which is subsequently revealed by making this\npolarization flow back to the NV for readout. Using extensive analytical and\nnumerical modeling, we show that the technique can attain high spatial\nresolution depending on the NV lifetime and target spin location. No external\nmagnetic field gradient is required, which circumvents complications resulting\nfrom changes in the direction of the applied magnetic field, and considerably\nsimplifies the required instrumentation. Extensions of the present technique\nmay be adapted to pinpoint the locations of other paramagnetic centers in the\nNV vicinity or to yield information on dynamical processes in molecules on the\ndiamond surface.\n