167 research outputs found
The diamond Nitrogen-Vacancy center as a probe of random fluctuations in a nuclear spin ensemble
New schemes that exploit the unique properties of Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV)
centers in diamond are presently being explored as a platform for
high-resolution magnetic sensing. Here we focus on the ability of a NV center
to monitor an adjacent mesoscopic nuclear spin bath. For this purpose, we
conduct comparative experiments where the NV spin evolves under the influence
of surrounding 13C nuclei or, alternatively, in the presence of asynchronous AC
fields engineered to emulate bath fluctuations. Our study reveals substantial
differences that underscore the limitations of the semi-classical picture when
interpreting and predicting the outcome of experiments designed to probe small
nuclear spin ensembles. In particular, our study elucidates the NV center
response to bath fluctuations under common pulse sequences, and explores a
detection protocol designed to probe time correlations of the nuclear spin bath
dynamics. Further, we show that the presence of macroscopic nuclear spin order
is key to the emergence of semi-classical spin magnetometry.Comment: 30 pages, 4 figure
Magnetometry of random AC magnetic fields using a single Nitrogen-Vacancy center
We report on the use of a single NV center to probe fluctuating AC magnetic
fields. Using engineered currents to induce random changes in the field
amplitude and phase, we show that stochastic fluctuations reduce the NV center
sensitivity and, in general, make the NV response field-dependent. We also
introduce two modalities to determine the field spectral composition, unknown a
priori in a practical application. One strategy capitalizes on the generation
of AC-field-induced coherence 'revivals', while the other approach uses the
time-tagged fluorescence intensity record from successive NV observations to
reconstruct the AC field spectral density. These studies are relevant for
magnetic sensing in scenarios where the field of interest has a non-trivial,
stochastic behavior, such as sensing unpolarized nuclear spin ensembles at low
static magnetic fields.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure
Single Color Centers Implanted in Diamond Nanostructures
The development of materials processing techniques for optical diamond
nanostructures containing a single color center is an important problem in
quantum science and technology. In this work, we present the combination of ion
implantation and top-down diamond nanofabrication in two scenarios: diamond
nanopillars and diamond nanowires. The first device consists of a 'shallow'
implant (~20nm) to generate Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color centers near the top
surface of the diamond crystal. Individual NV centers are then isolated
mechanically by dry etching a regular array of nanopillars in the diamond
surface. Photon anti-bunching measurements indicate that a high yield (>10%) of
the devices contain a single NV center. The second device demonstrates 'deep'
(~1\mu m) implantation of individual NV centers into pre-fabricated diamond
nanowire. The high single photon flux of the nanowire geometry, combined with
the low background fluorescence of the ultrapure diamond, allows us to sustain
strong photon anti-bunching even at high pump powers.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figure
Fidelity enhancement by logical qubit encoding
We demonstrate coherent control of two logical qubits encoded in a
decoherence free subspace (DFS) of four dipolar-coupled protons in an NMR
quantum information processor. A pseudo-pure fiducial state is created in the
DFS, and a unitary logical qubit entangling operator evolves the system to a
logical Bell state. The four-spin molecule is partially aligned by a liquid
crystal solvent, which introduces strong dipolar couplings among the spins.
Although the system Hamiltonian is never fully specified, we demonstrate high
fidelity control over the logical degrees of freedom. In fact, the DFS encoding
leads to higher fidelity control than is available in the full four-spin
Hilbert space.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure
Recommended from our members
Staphylococcus aureus Activates the NLRP3 Inflammasome in Human and Rat Conjunctival Goblet Cells
The conjunctiva is a moist mucosal membrane that is constantly exposed to an array of potential pathogens and triggers of inflammation. The NACHT, leucine rich repeat (LRR), and pyrin domain-containing protein 3 (NLRP3) is a Nod-like receptor that can sense pathogens or other triggers, and is highly expressed in wet mucosal membranes. NLRP3 is a member of the multi-protein complex termed the NLRP3 inflammasome that activates the caspase 1 pathway, inducing the secretion of biologically active IL-1β, a major initiator and promoter of inflammation. The purpose of this study was to: (1) determine whether NLRP3 is expressed in the conjunctiva and (2) determine whether goblet cells specifically contribute to innate mediated inflammation via secretion of IL-1β. We report that the receptors known to be involved in the priming and activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome, the purinergic receptors P2X4 and P2X7 and the bacterial Toll-like receptor 2 are present and functional in conjunctival goblet cells. Toxin-containing Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), which activates the NLRP3 inflammasome, increased the expression of the inflammasome proteins NLRP3, ASC and pro- and mature caspase 1 in conjunctival goblet cells. The biologically active form of IL-1β was detected in goblet cell culture supernatants in response to S. aureus, which was reduced when the cells were treated with the caspase 1 inhibitor Z-YVAD. We conclude that the NLRP3 inflammasome components are present in conjunctival goblet cells. The NRLP3 inflammasome appears to be activated in conjunctival goblet cells by toxin-containing S. aureus via the caspase 1 pathway to secrete mature IL1-β. Thus goblet cells contribute to the innate immune response in the conjunctiva by activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome
Recommended isolated-line profile for representing high-resolution spectroscopic transitions (IUPAC Technical Report)
The report of an IUPAC Task Group, formed in 2011 on "Intensities and line
shapes in high-resolution spectra of water isotopologues from experiment and
theory" (Project No. 2011-022-2-100), on line profiles of isolated
high-resolution rotational-vibrational transitions perturbed by neutral
gas-phase molecules is presented. The well-documented inadequacies of the Voigt
profile (VP), used almost universally by databases and radiative-transfer
codes, to represent pressure effects and Doppler broadening in isolated
vibrational-rotational and pure rotational transitions of the water molecule
have resulted in the development of a variety of alternative line-profile
models. These models capture more of the physics of the influence of pressure
on line shapes but, in general, at the price of greater complexity. The Task
Group recommends that the partially Correlated quadratic-Speed-Dependent
Hard-Collision profile should be adopted as the appropriate model for
high-resolution spectroscopy. For simplicity this should be called the
Hartmann--Tran profile (HTP). The HTP is sophisticated enough to capture the
various collisional contributions to the isolated line shape, can be computed
in a straightforward and rapid manner, and reduces to simpler profiles,
including the Voigt profile, under certain simplifying assumptions.Comment: Accepted for publication in Pure and Applied Chemistr
Recommended from our members
Single-Color Centers Implanted in Diamond Nanostructures
The development of material-processing techniques that can be used to generate optical diamond nanostructures containing a single-color center is an important problem in quantum science and technology. In this work, we present the combination of ion implantation and top-down diamond nanofabrication in two scenarios: diamond nanopillars and diamond nanowires. The first device consists of a 'shallow' implant (similar to 20 nm) to generate nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color centers near the top surface of the diamond crystal prior to device fabrication. Individual NV centers are then mechanically isolated by etching a regular array of nanopillars in the diamond surface. Photon anti-bunching measurements indicate that a high yield (> 10%) of the devices contain a single NV center. The second device demonstrates 'deep' (similar to ) implantation of individual NV centers into diamond nanowires as a post-processing step. The high single-photon flux of the nanowire geometry, combined with the low background fluorescence of the ultrapure diamond, allowed us to observe sustained photon anti-bunching even at high pump powers.Engineering and Applied SciencesPhysic
Low-cost thermal-infrared 'THz-Torch' spectroscopy
The low-cost thermal infrared ‘THz-Torch’ concept (referred to here as ‘THz-T’) was first introduced over a decade ago, and since then the associated ‘over the THz horizon’ thermal infrared (10-100 THz) implementation technologies have continued to advance. While short range secure wireless communications links have received a great deal of attention, material spectroscopy has only briefly been introduced in a short conference abstract. Here, for the first time, we explore in depth the basic concepts behind THz-T spectroscopy. Moreover, when compared to the unvalidated results within our previous work, we demonstrate an enhanced experimental THz-T spectrometer. A detailed thermal noise power link budget model for both the transmission and reflection modes of operation have been undertaken and independently validated. As a proof of principle, a diverse array of different material types has been characterized. This includes glass sheets, semiconductor wafers, ceramic plate, plastic tape, plastic sheets, as well as polymer and cotton paper banknotes. THz-T technology has the advantages of hardware simplicity and low cost non-destructive testing for ubiquitous applications
- …