Microscale nuclear magnetic resonance imaging with diamond chips.

We present sensitivity improvements due to new fabrication and spin detection techniques of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond, which enable new detection modalities such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments capable of sensing small quantities (<1 pL) of analyte [1] and achieving spectral resolutions capable of distinguishing proton chemical shifts [2]. I will present a progress report, including the achievement of sensitivities of 300 pT/(Hz)½, which are sufficient to detect the thermal polarization of ~1 molar proton concentrations. I will also outline a path to detecting biologically-relevant millimolar proton concentrations using optical hyperpolarization methods. I will also present recent progress to use DC diamond magnetic microscopy to image the paramagnetic properties of individual hemozoin crystals, a biological compound produced by malaria parasites, and obtained good agreement with previous work on ensemble magnetic properties of hemozoin [3].


[1] Kehayias, P. et al., Nature Communications 8 (2017): 188
[2] Bucher, Dominik B., et al., arXiv preprint arXiv:1705.08887 (2017).
[3] Inyushin, M. et al., Scientific Reports 6 (2016): 26212.