All-optical sensing of a single-molecule electron spin

Abstract

We demonstrate an all-optical method for magnetic sensing of individual molecules in ambient conditions at room temperature. Our approach is based on shallow nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers near the surface of a diamond crystal, which we use to detect single paramagnetic molecules covalently attached to the diamond surface. The manipulation and readout of the NV centers is all-optical and provides a sensitive probe of the magnetic field fluctuations stemming from the dynamics of the electronic spins of the attached molecules. As a specific example, we demonstrate detection of a single paramagnetic molecule containing a gadolinium (Gd${}^{3+}$) ion. We confirm single-molecule resolution using optical fluorescence and atomic force microscopy to co-localize one NV center and one Gd${}^{3+}$-containing molecule. Possible applications include nanoscale and in vivo magnetic spectroscopy and imaging of individual molecules.

References in corpus (2)

• High-sensitivity diamond magnetometer with nanoscale resolution
• Nanoscale magnetic imaging of a single electron spin under ambient conditions

Cited by in corpus (43)

• Quantum sensing
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• Single-molecule Scale Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy using Nitrogen-Vacancy Centers in Diamond
• Fourier Magnetic Imaging with Nanoscale Resolution and Compressed Sensing Speed-up using Electronic Spins in Diamond
• Nanoscale Dynamic Readout of a Chemical Redox Process Using Radicals Coupled with Nitrogen-Vacancy Centers in Nanodiamonds
• Diamond surface engineering for molecular sensing with nitrogen-vacancy centers
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• Quantum diamond spectrometer for nanoscale NMR and ESR spectroscopy
• Single DNA Electron Spin Resonance Spectroscopy in Aqueous Solutions
• Atomic-scale nuclear spin imaging using quantum-assisted sensors in diamond
• Narrow-bandwidth sensing of high-frequency fields with continuous dynamical decoupling
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• Relaxometry and dephasing imaging of superparamagnetic magnetite nanoparticles using a single qubit
• Two-dimensional nanoscale imaging of gadolinium spins via scanning probe relaxometry with a single spin in diamond
• Photoluminescence decomposition analysis: a technique to characterize NV creation in diamond
• Three-dimensional localization spectroscopy of individual nuclear spins with sub-Angstrom resolution
• Microwave-Free Nuclear Magnetic Resonance at Molecular Scales
• Detection of paramagnetic spins with an ultrathin van der Waals quantum sensor
• Spin dynamics of diamond nitrogen-vacancy centres at the ground state level anti-crossing and all-optical low frequency magnetic field sensing
• Quantum Interpolation for High Resolution Sensing
• Impact of Charge Conversion on NV-Center Relaxometry
• Improved quantum sensing with a single solid-state spin via spin-to-charge conversion
• Single Nitrogen-Vacancy-NMR of Amine-Functionalized Diamond Surfaces
• Quantitative study of the response of a single NV defect in diamond to magnetic noise
• Identification and control of electron-nuclear spin defects in diamond
• Optimal quantum optical control of spin in diamond
• Temperature drift rate for nuclear terms of NV center ground state Hamiltonian
• Precise Spectroscopy of High-Frequency Oscillating Fields with a Single-Qubit Sensor
• Ferrimagnetic Oscillator Magnetometer
• Enhancement of quantum coherence in solid-state qubits via interface engineering
• Magnetic noise from ultra-thin abrasively deposited materials on diamond
• Entanglement-Enhanced Nanoscale Single-Spin Sensing
• Towards Quantum Sensing of Chiral-Induced Spin Selectivity: Probing Donor-Bridge-Acceptor Molecules with NV Centers in Diamond
• High contrast quantum imaging with time-gated fluorescence detection
• Optically-Trapped Nanodiamond-Relaxometry Detection of Nanomolar Paramagnetic Spins in Aqueous Environments
• Atomic-scale positioning of single spins via multiple nitrogen-vacancy centers
• Enhanced quantum sensing with multi-level structures of trapped ions
• Quantum relaxometry for detecting biomolecular interactions with single NV centers
• Diamond spin sensors: A new way to probe nanomagnetism
• A method for robust spin relaxometry in the presence of imperfect state preparation