Wide-field magnetic imager with nanoscale resolution

本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、宽视场的钻石基磁场成像仪。该方法基于相干微波和光学操作，将氮-空位色心植入钻石芯片表面的薄层中。金刚石中的氮空位中心因其在室温下较长的电子自旋相干时间和一种特殊的能级结构而成为量子信息、传感和计量领域的一种很有前途的工具，而且它的能级结构可以方便地进行光学自旋极化和读出。最近的工作证明了氮-空位中心集合在对包括生物样品产生的磁场在内的恒定和时变磁场进行灵敏检测和成像方面的潜力。该项目的智力优势是将基础量子科学的技术转化为固态室温磁成像仪的开发，该成像仪结合了纳米级空间分辨率、宽视场和卓越的磁场灵敏度，这是任何其他技术都无法获得的。此外，钻石独特的物理性质(硬度、高导热性、光学透明性)，加上其化学惰性和良好的生物兼容性，使钻石磁成像仪特别适合于材料科学和生物科学中的传感和成像应用。该计划的更广泛的影响包括：(I)将钻石磁成像仪应用于各种物理和生物问题，例如，探测石墨烯、反铁磁和多铁材料等低维系统中的磁序和磁区结构，以及对趋磁细菌等活细胞中的功能活动和磁结构进行微创成像；(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，特别注重将未被充分代表的群体的成员纳入科学和工程领域；以及(Iii)通过公开讲座、网站、杂志文章和本科生课程材料，向更广泛的受众宣传拟议仪器开发和研究的令人兴奋的跨学科性质。

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.