112 research outputs found
Coherence of Nitrogen-Vacancy Electronic Spin Ensembles in Diamond
We present an experimental and theoretical study of electronic spin
decoherence in ensembles of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color centers in bulk
high-purity diamond at room temperature. Under appropriate conditions, we find
ensemble NV spin coherence times (T_2) comparable to that of single NVs, with
T_2 > 600 microseconds for a sample with natural abundance of 13C and
paramagnetic impurity density ~10^15 cm^(-3). We also observe a sharp decrease
of the coherence time with misalignment of the static magnetic field relative
to the NV electronic spin axis, consistent with theoretical modeling of NV
coupling to a 13C nuclear spin bath. The long coherence times and increased
signal-to-noise provided by room-temperature NV ensembles will aid many
applications of NV centers in precision magnetometry and quantum information.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures; v2 minor correction
Mesoscopic molecular ions in Bose-Einstein condensates
We study the possible formation of large (mesoscopic) molecular ions in an
ultracold degenerate bosonic gas doped with charged particles (ions). We show
that the polarization potentials produced by the ionic impurities are capable
of capturing hundreds of atoms into loosely bound states. We describe the
spontaneous formation of these hollow molecular ions via phonon emission and
suggest an optical technique for coherent stimulated transitions of free atoms
into a specific bound state. These results open up new interesting
possibilities for manipulating tightly confined ensembles.Comment: 4 pages (two-columns), 2 figure
Light storage protocols in Tm:YAG
We present two quantum memory protocols for solids: A stopped light approach
based on spectral hole burning and the storage in an atomic frequency comb.
These procedures are well adapted to the rare-earth ion doped crystals. We
carefully clarify the critical steps of both. On one side, we show that the
slowing-down due to hole-burning is sufficient to produce a complete mapping of
field into the atomic system. On the other side, we explain the storage and
retrieval mechanism of the Atomic Frequency Comb protocol. This two important
stages are implemented experimentally in Tm- doped
yttrium-aluminum-garnet crystal
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Optical magnetic imaging of living cells
Magnetic imaging is a powerful tool for probing biological and physical systems. However, existing techniques either have poor spatial resolution compared to optical microscopy and are hence not generally applicable to imaging of sub-cellular structure (e.g., magnetic resonance imaging [MRI]1), or entail operating conditions that preclude application to living biological samples while providing sub-micron resolution (e.g., scanning superconducting quantum interference device [SQUID] microscopy2, electron holography3, and magnetic resonance force microscopy [MRFM]4). Here we demonstrate magnetic imaging of living cells (magnetotactic bacteria) under ambient laboratory conditions and with sub-cellular spatial resolution (400 nm), using an optically-detected magnetic field imaging array consisting of a nanoscale layer of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) colour centres implanted at the surface of a diamond chip. With the bacteria placed on the diamond surface, we optically probe the NV quantum spin states and rapidly reconstruct images of the vector components of the magnetic field created by chains of magnetic nanoparticles (magnetosomes) produced in the bacteria, and spatially correlate these magnetic field maps with optical images acquired in the same apparatus. Wide-field sCMOS acquisition allows parallel optical and magnetic imaging of multiple cells in a population with sub-micron resolution and >100 micron field-of-view. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of the bacteria confirm that the correlated optical and magnetic images can be used to locate and characterize the magnetosomes in each bacterium. The results provide a new capability for imaging bio-magnetic structures in living cells under ambient conditions with high spatial resolution, and will enable the mapping of a wide range of magnetic signals within cells and cellular networks5, 6
Enhanced solid-state multi-spin metrology using dynamical decoupling
We use multi-pulse dynamical decoupling to increase the coherence lifetime
(T2) of large numbers of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) electronic spins in room
temperature diamond, thus enabling scalable applications of multi-spin quantum
information processing and metrology. We realize an order-of-magnitude
extension of the NV multi-spin T2 for diamond samples with widely differing
spin environments. For samples with nitrogen impurity concentration <~1 ppm, we
find T2 > 2 ms, comparable to the longest coherence time reported for single NV
centers, and demonstrate a ten-fold enhancement in NV multi-spin sensing of AC
magnetic fields
Magnetic field imaging with nitrogen-vacancy ensembles
Part of Focus on Diamond-Based Photonics and Spintronics
We demonstrate a method of imaging spatially varying magnetic fields using a thin layer of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers at the surface of a diamond chip. Fluorescence emitted by the two-dimensional NV ensemble is detected by a CCD array, from which a vector magnetic field pattern is reconstructed. As a demonstration, ac current is passed through wires placed on the diamond chip surface, and the resulting ac magnetic field patterns are imaged using an echo-based technique with sub-micron resolution over a 140 ÎĽmĂ—140 ÎĽm field of view, giving single-pixel sensitivity \sim100\,{\rm nT}/\sqrt{{\rm Hz}} . We discuss ongoing efforts to further improve the sensitivity, as well as potential bioimaging applications such as real-time imaging of activity in functional, cultured networks of neurons.
PACS
61.72.J- Point defects and defect clusters
78.55.Hx Other solid inorganic materials
87.50.C- Static and low-frequency electric and magnetic fields effects
85.30.Tv Field effect devices
Subjects
Electronics and devices
Condensed matter: electrical, magnetic and optical
Semiconductors
Medical physics
Biological physics
Condensed matter: structural, mechanical & thermalUnited States. Defense Advanced Research Projects AgencyNational Institute of Standards and Technology (U.S.)National Science Foundation (U.S.
Multiorder coherent Raman scattering of a quantum probe field
We study the multiorder coherent Raman scattering of a quantum probe field in
a far-off-resonance medium with a prepared coherence. Under the conditions of
negligible dispersion and limited bandwidth, we derive a Bessel-function
solution for the sideband field operators. We analytically and numerically
calculate various quantum statistical characteristics of the sideband fields.
We show that the multiorder coherent Raman process can replicate the
statistical properties of a single-mode quantum probe field into a broad comb
of generated Raman sidebands. We also study the mixing and modulation of photon
statistical properties in the case of two-mode input. We show that the prepared
Raman coherence and the medium length can be used as control parameters to
switch a sideband field from one type of photon statistics to another type, or
from a non-squeezed state to a squeezed state and vice versa.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.
Time evolution of 1D gapless models from a domain-wall initial state: SLE continued?
We study the time evolution of quantum one-dimensional gapless systems
evolving from initial states with a domain-wall. We generalize the
path-integral imaginary time approach that together with boundary conformal
field theory allows to derive the time and space dependence of general
correlation functions. The latter are explicitly obtained for the Ising
universality class, and the typical behavior of one- and two-point functions is
derived for the general case. Possible connections with the stochastic Loewner
evolution are discussed and explicit results for one-point time dependent
averages are obtained for generic \kappa for boundary conditions corresponding
to SLE. We use this set of results to predict the time evolution of the
entanglement entropy and obtain the universal constant shift due to the
presence of a domain wall in the initial state.Comment: 27 pages, 10 figure
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