Micron-scale SABRE-enhanced NV-NMR Spectroscopy

Abstract

Optically-probed nitrogen-vacancy (NV) quantum defects in diamond can detect nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) signals with high-spectral resolution from micron-scale sample volumes of about 10 picoliters. However, a key challenge for NV-NMR is detecting samples at millimolar concentrations. Here, we demonstrate an improvement in NV-NMR proton concentration sensitivity of about $10^5$ over thermal polarization by hyperpolarizing sample proton spins through signal amplification by reversible exchange (SABRE), enabling micron-scale NMR of small molecule sample concentrations as low as 1 millimolar in picoliter volumes. The SABRE-enhanced NV-NMR technique may enable detection and chemical analysis of low concentration molecules and their dynamics in complex micron-scale systems such as single-cells.