4 research outputs found
Diamond nano-pillar arrays for quantum microscopy of neuronal signals
Modern neuroscience is currently limited in its capacity to perform long
term, wide-field measurements of neuron electromagnetics with nanoscale
resolution. Quantum microscopy using the nitrogen vacancy centre (NV) can
provide a potential solution to this problem with electric and magnetic field
sensing at nano-scale resolution and good biocompatibility. However, the
performance of existing NV sensing technology does not allow for studies of
small mammalian neurons yet. In this paper, we propose a solution to this
problem by engineering NV quantum sensors in diamond nanopillar arrays. The
pillars improve light collection efficiency by guiding excitation/emission
light, which improves sensitivity. More importantly, they also improve the size
of the signal at the NV by removing screening charges as well as coordinating
the neuron growth to the tips of the pillars where the NV is located. Here, we
provide a growth study to demonstrate coordinated neuron growth as well as the
first simulation of nano-scopic neuron electric and magnetic fields to assess
the enhancement provided by the nanopillar geometry.Comment: 18 pages including supplementary and references, 12 figure