Diamond-based single-molecule magnetic resonance spectroscopy

作者:Cai Jianming*; Jelezko Fedor; Plenio Martin B; Retzker Alex
来源:New Journal of Physics, 2013, 15(1): 013020.
DOI:10.1088/1367-2630/15/1/013020

摘要

The detection of a nuclear spin in an individual molecule represents a key challenge in physics and biology whose solution has been pursued for many years. The small magnetic moment of a single nucleus and the unavoidable environmental noise present the key obstacles for its realization. In this paper, we demonstrate theoretically that a single nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond can be used to construct a nano-scale single-molecule spectrometer that is capable of detecting the position and spin state of a single nucleus and can determine the distance and alignment of a nuclear or electron spin pair. The proposed device would find applications in single-molecule spectroscopy in chemistry and biology, for example in determining the protein structure or in monitoring macromolecular motions, and can thus provide a tool to help unravel the microscopic mechanisms underlying bio-molecular function.

  • 出版日期2013-1-11