Wide-field magnetic imager with nanoscale resolution

该项目的目标是开发一种适用于物理和生物科学应用的高灵敏度、宽视场金刚石磁场成像仪器。该方法基于相干微波和光学操作，将氮空位色中心植入金刚石芯片表面的薄层。金刚石中的氮空位中心由于其在室温下的长电子自旋相干时间，以及一种不寻常的能级结构，允许方便的光学自旋极化和读出，已成为量子信息，传感和计量的有前途的工具。最近的工作已经证明了氮空位中心的集成对固定和时变磁场的敏感检测和成像的潜力，包括那些由生物样品产生的磁场。该计划的智力优势在于将基础量子科学技术转化为固态室温磁成像仪的开发，该成像仪具有纳米级空间分辨率、宽视场和出色的磁场灵敏度，这是任何其他技术都无法获得的。此外，金刚石独特的物理特性（硬度、高导热性、光学透明性），以及它的化学惰性和优异的生物相容性，使金刚石磁性成像仪特别适合材料科学和生物学中的传感和成像应用。该计划的广泛影响包括：(i)将金刚石磁性成像仪应用于各种各样的物理和生物问题，例如，探测低维系统（如石墨烯、反铁磁和多铁磁材料）中的磁有序和畴结构，以及对活细胞（如趋磁细菌）中的功能活动和磁性结构进行微创成像；（ii）为学生提供凝聚态物理、纳米科学、光学成像技术和量子信息科学以及表面科学和生物成像等应用领域的跨学科培训，特别注重在科学和工程领域纳入代表性不足的群体成员；（iii）通过公开讲座、网站、杂志文章和本科课程材料，向更广泛的受众传达拟议仪器开发的令人兴奋的跨学科性质及其将实现的研究，从而进行外联。

The objective of this project is the development of a high-sensitivity, wide-field diamond-based magnetic field imaging instrument suitable for applications in the physical and biological sciences. The approach is based on coherent microwave and optical manipulation of Nitrogen-Vacancy color centers implanted in a thin layer at the surface of a diamond chip. The Nitrogen-Vacancy center in diamond has emerged as a promising tool for quantum information, sensing, and metrology due to its long electronic spin coherence time at room temperature, and an unusual energy level structure that allows convenient optical spin polarization and readout. Recent work has demonstrated the potential of ensembles of Nitrogen-Vacancy centers for sensitive detection and imaging of stationary and time-varying magnetic fields, including those produced by biological samples. The intellectual merit of this program is the translation of techniques from fundamental quantum science into the development of a solid-state, room temperature magnetic imager with a combination of nanoscale spatial resolution, wide field-of-view, and excellent magnetic field sensitivity that cannot be obtained with any other technology. In addition, the unique physical properties of diamond (hardness, high thermal conductivity, optical transparency), together with its chemical inertness and excellent biocompatibility, make the diamond magnetic imager particularly well suited for sensing and imaging applications in materials science and biology.The broader impacts of this program include: (i) applying the diamond magnetic imager to a wide variety of physical and biological problems, e.g., probing magnetic order and domain structure in low-dimensional systems such as graphene, anti-ferromagnetic, and multiferroic materials, as well as minimally-invasive imaging of functional activity and magnetic structures in living cells such as magnetotactic bacteria; (ii) providing interdisciplinary training to students in condensed matter physics, nanoscience, optical imaging techniques, and quantum information science, as well as in application areas such as surface science and bioimaging, with a particular focus on inclusion of members of underrepresented groups in science and engineering; and (iii) performing outreach by communicating to a wider audience the exciting interdisciplinary nature of the proposed instrument development and the research it will enable, through public lectures, websites, magazine articles, and undergraduate course material.