Traditional NMR uses high magnetic fields to thermally polarize a small fraction of nuclei, thereby gaining information on the surrounding electronic enviroment. Here we probe a handful of nuclei within a very small volume, attempting to gain insight on structural conformality.
With our single spin sensor, we have the possibility to sense proximal electron spins.
We are currently studying different spin-labels used chiefly in the bio-medicine industry, with the aim of reaching the single-spin limit.
Having a true spin-1/2 qubit as the sensor immediately calls for the application of novel quantum information processing, or quantum computing algorithms in order to both protect the qubit and increase its sensitivity. We employ several such schemes, which greatly improve our signal-to-noise ratio.
Probably the "simplest" detection scheme, relaxometry (T1) and dephasing (T2) are indirect sensing schemes, which probe the spectral density of the noise emanating from the sample. By comparing the relaxation time and coherence time of our bare sensor to those when in proximity to the sample, we can infer different properties of the matrial in question.
