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Updated: May 14, 2026

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Published on: October 9, 2020
Nanoscale nuclear magnetic resonance with a nitrogen-vacancy spin sensor
H J Mamin1, M Kim, M H Sherwood
1IBM Research Division, Almaden Research Center, San Jose, CA 95120, USA.
Abstract:
Extension of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to nanoscale samples has been a longstanding challenge because of the insensitivity of conventional detection methods. We demonstrated the use of an individual, near-surface nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond as a sensor to detect proton NMR in an organic sample located external to the diamond. Using a combination of electron spin echoes and proton spin manipulation, we showed that the NV center senses the nanotesla field fluctuations from the protons, enabling both time-domain and spectroscopic NMR measurements on the nanometer scale.
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