Nuclear quadrupole resonance spectroscopy with a femtotesla diamond magnetometer
At a Glance
Section titled āAt a Glanceā| Metadata | Details |
|---|---|
| Publication Date | 2023-06-16 |
| Journal | Science Advances |
| Authors | Yaser Silani, JÄnis Å mits, Ilja Fescenko, Michael Malone, Andrew F. McDowell |
| Institutions | Los Alamos National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley |
| Citations | 27 |
Abstract
Section titled āAbstractāRadio frequency (RF) magnetometers based on nitrogen vacancy centers in diamond are predicted to offer femtotesla sensitivity, but previous experiments were limited to the picotesla level. We demonstrate a femtotesla RF magnetometer using a diamond membrane inserted between ferrite flux concentrators. The device provides ~300-fold amplitude enhancement for RF magnetic fields from 70 kHz to 3.6 MHz, and the sensitivity reaches ~70 fTās at 0.35 MHz. The sensor detected the 3.6-MHz nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) of room-temperature sodium nitrite powder. The sensorās recovery time after an RF pulse is ~35 Ī¼s, limited by the excitation coilās ring-down time. The sodium-nitrite NQR frequency shifts with temperature as ā1.00Ā±0.02 kHz/K, the magnetization dephasing time is T 2 *=887Ā±51 Ī¼s, and multipulse sequences extend the signal lifetime to 332Ā±23 ms, all consistent with coil-based studies. Our results expand the sensitivity frontier of diamond magnetometers to the femtotesla range, with potential applications in security, medical imaging, and materials science.