Blueprint for nanoscale NMR

Abstract

Nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in diamond have been used as ultrasensitive magnetometers to perform nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy of statistically polarized samples at 1 - 100 nm length scales. However, the spectral linewidth is typically limited to the kHz level, both by the NV sensor coherence time and by rapid molecular diffusion of the nuclei through the detection volume which in turn is critical for achieving long nuclear coherence times. Here we provide a blueprint for a set-up that combines a sensitivity sufficient for detecting NMR signals from nano- to micron-scale samples with a spectral resolution that is limited only by the nuclear spin coherence, i.e. comparable to conventional NMR. Our protocol detects the nuclear polarization induced along the direction of an external magnetic field with near surface NV centers using lock-in detection techniques to enable phase coherent signal averaging. Using NV centers in a dual role of NMR detector and optical hyperpolarization source to increase signal to noise, and in combination with Bayesian interference models for signal processing, nano/microscale NMR spectroscopy can be performed on sub-millimolar sample concentrations, several orders of magnitude better than the current state of the art.