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Quantum Lab Tour

A Geoscience Directed Quantum Sensing Lab in EESA

Color centers in diamond, particularly the ones formed by the negatively-charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV) pairs below, have emerged as a versatile quantum system for sensitive physical metrology, magnetometry and chemical detection. They are sensitive to magnetic field fluctuations and can be used as a quantum sensor to acquire nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy from interfaces with optical resolution or better. To date, quantum sensing approaches have seen little application in the Earth sciences although, as shown by a recent Workshop Report on Quantum Information Science and Technology by the DOE Fossil Energy program, this is expected to change. We are building a quantum sensing instrument that will use the ability of the diamond NV- center to acquire nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) signals from fluids and solute molecules close to the diamond surface with optical resolution or better. The initial goals are to measure the properties of interfacial solutions, such as viscosity and solution speciation, under ambient conditions. We are working with the Molecular Foundry at Berkeley Lab to grow few-monolayer thick silica and alumina layers on the diamond surface. The initial work will apply published protocols for optical NMR but we are also collaborating with UC-Berkeley Chemistry faculty Drs. Jeff Reimer, Ashok Ajoy and Alex Pines to develop new chemical sensing protocols. Ultimately, these quantum sensing methods will be integrated into an optical microscope compatible with biogeochemical studies, and extended to fiber-optic systems for field deployment.

Adjust the slider over the images below ↔︎

In a stable magnetic field, a single-crystal synthetic diamond is positioned at the center of a microwave antenna and beneath a fiber optics that collects the fluorescence signal at the near field. A green excitation laser is used to prepare the spin state of the NV centers prior to the next quantum sensing steps.

The quantum states of NV centers are disturbed in the presence of controlled nuclear spins of analytes in a magnetic field. The red fluorescence emissions, shown here behind a long-pass filter, contain information of the quantum spin states and hence the chemical information from the analytes.

The sample holder is supported by a 5-axis stage to provide accurate geometrical control when positioned with the diamond between the poles of a high-stability electromagnet.

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