Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Optical Trapping and Optical Micromanipulation

Infrared induced photo-dynamics of NV centres in optically trapped nanodiamond

Lachlan W. Russell, Peter John Reece, David Simpson, Jean‐Philippe Tetienne

Published Sep 7, 2018• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centre in diamond gained popularity as a probe for nanoscale sensing applications in research thanks to the array of sensing modalities available and the bio-compatibility of the material itself, however the utility of NV sensing is limited by the lack of suitable strategies to control them spatially. By confining single nanodiamonds using an optical tweezers (OT) we are able to combine the sensing opportunities of the NV centre with the precision control of position and orientation afforded by OT. This work is an investigation of the interaction of the trapping laser with the spin-based photoluminescence of the NV centre, further it is a demonstration of an all-optical sensing protocol which eliminates the spin depolarisation effects of the trapping laser and allows for NV spin relaxometry in an optically trapped nanodiamond. This relaxometry protocol can determine spin lattice relaxation times on the order of ms and requires relatively low trapping powers < 50 mW, making it particularly applicable to biological systems.

DOI
10.1117/12.2320821

Related papers

Manipulating the Quantum Coherence of Optically Trapped Nanodiamonds

Lachlan W. Russell, Simon G. Ralph, Kazuma Wittick +3 more

The use of optical tweezers as a tool to facilitate nondestructive nanoscale sensing has been a growing area of research, particularly in the biological sciences. The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond has attracted significant interest in this area due to the array of sensing modalities available and the biocompatibility of the material itself. Many of the diamond sensing modalities rely on the measurement and characterization of the NV spin. Recent work has demonstrated the utility of the spin–lattice relaxation time ( T 1 ) of NV centers in nanodiamond for nanoscale magnetic sensing and spectroscopy. Here, we demonstrate spin relaxometry with optically trapped nanodiamonds. The all-optical sensing protocol we developed eliminates the spin decoherence effects of the trapping laser and can determine spin–lattice relaxation times on the order of ms. Moreover, the protocol requires relatively low trapping powers <50 mW, making it particularly applicable to biological systems.

ACS Photonics•Oct 1, 2018•18 citations

Nitrogen-vacancy centres in diamond: internal dynamics and nanoscale measurements

Robert Chapman

This thesis represents several steps in the development of Nitrogen-Vacancy Nanodiamond as an effective optical label for biological measurements and as a tool for nanometry and quantum information techniques. In this thesis I cover concrete progress in many areas of nanodiamond research, demonstrating that optical interactions alone can be used to control NV spin polarisation and measure NV temperature. I develop a method for high-contrast imaging of NV centres using magnetic modulation, and also show a method for measuring the Raman scattering of water to an unprecedented level of accuracy. This thesis also contains the outlines of two more experiments: one aimed at measuring NV concentration in aqueous nanodiamond suspensions, and another whose aim is to use multiple NV centres in a single nanodiamond to measure the orientation and strength of an external magnetic field.

•Aug 31, 2015•0 citations

Nitrogen Vacancy Centers in Diamond for Quantum Biosensing: Magnetometry Techniques, Platforms and Applications

Sirsendu Ghosal, Umakant Prajapati, Sachin Negi +3 more

Quantum sensing using nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond has emerged as a powerful platform for detecting ultra-low magnetic fields under ambient conditions. Owing to their long spin coherence times, optical addressability, and compatibility with aqueous environments, it has found widespread applications in biosensing and bio-imaging. This review presents the fundamental principles and recent advances in NV-based quantum magnetometry for biosensing applications, with a particular focus on measurements in aqueous medium and at cellular and molecular length scales. We discuss the underlying spin physics of NV centers and highlight two primary detection modalities: optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) and T1 relaxometry-based sensing and how these approaches aids in the detection of both static magnetic fields and dynamic magnetic noise arising from biological processes. The review explores key application areas, including nanoscale nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), monitoring of neural activity, detection of abnormal or rogue cells using NV-based platforms etc. In addition, strategies for enhancing sensitivity, such as surface functionalization of nanodiamonds, femtosecond (fs) laser-written photonic structures, and integration with microfluidic and lab-on-chip systems have also been discussed in depth. We also address the critical challenges, including surface-induced decoherence, charge-state instability, and signal-to-noise limitations in biofluids associated with NV-based biosensing applications. Finally, we outline future prospects, highlighting how NV-based magnetic biosensing provides a promising pathway for translating quantum sensing technologies into practical biomedical applications.

quant-pharXiv:2609.04733•Sep 7, 2026

Development of Nitrogen Vacancy Diamond Centers for Nanoscale Sensing of Physical and Biological Materials

Michael P. Lake

The NV defect center in diamond forms a pseudo-atomic quantum system with discreet optically excitable transitions between ground and excited states in the gap between valence and conduction bands, making the NV center a deep-level defect center in diamond. For the negatively charged NV center (NV-), both the ground and excited states are spin triplets (S=1) and coupling between optical and spin states provides unique opportunities for optical detection of magnetic resonance (ODMR) and quantum metrology under ambient conditions. As an atomically sized point defect that is stable in single nanodiamonds as small as a few nanometers, the NV center enables spin based imaging of temperature, electric fields, magnetic fields and mechanical strain with nanoscale spatial resolution. Made of carbon, nanodiamonds are also ideal nanoparticles for use in biological systems, exhibiting extremely low cytotoxicity, no photo bleaching and exceptional contrast in transmission electron and light microscopy. With the ability to act as both a passive, non perturbing sensor (e.g. a diamagnetic material used for sensing magnetic fields) and a connection point for two way, direct coupling of far field optics to NV$^-$ spins and indirectly to the highly localized neighborhood of atoms, electronic states and phonon modes in the local vicinity, NV diamond provides a route to nanoscale field sensing and spin based optical microscopy. These sensors are also stable in nanodiamonds. For nanoparticles, the reduction in particle diameter dramatically enhances the proportion of the material that is surface exposed, enhancing any surface related properties. Nitrogen Vacancy centers in nanodiamonds provide another example of material properties that vary with particle size. In chapter 5, evidence that modulation of nanodiamonds fluorescent emissions by electrical perturbations in their surrouding environment allows transduction of local electrodynamics into a far field optical signal capable of mapping action potentials in cardiomyocytes in presented. The unifying theme for all of the work presented in this dissertation is to enable the use of magnetic resonance signals and interactions for imaging and sensing in previously inaccessible regimes. The specific focus is on methods and techniques to enable nanoscale physical sensing and functional imaging in live tissues, with the ultimate aim to lay the predicate for the combination of both without compromise.

•Jan 1, 2018•0 citations

Quenching dynamics and photo-physics of nitrogen-vacancy centres in nanodiamonds

Reece P. Roberts, Mathieu L. Juan, Gabriel Molina‐Terriza

The Nitrogen Vacancy (NV) centre is a point defect consisting of a nitrogen-vacancy lattice pair embedded in diamond. The NV centre has two stable charge states, the neutral charge state and the (NV0) and the negatively charged state (NV-) with photo induced interconversion between these two states [1]. The NV centre is an intensively studied material that has shown a wide range of applications in both Physics and Biology due to its high stability and interesting optical properties. Applications ranging from imaging and tracking biological structures, to nanoscale sensing, to applications in highly controlled quantum experiments have all been realised using these centres [2, 3]. However, these applications rely only on the NV-charge stage and often neglect the effects of the neutral charge state. As a result the NV0charge state has not received the same level of study as the NV-state and the effects of the interconversion between the two states are poorly understood, even though it can have a significant effect on the emitted fluorescence.

Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC)•Jun 1, 2017•0 citations

Optical electron spin relaxometry in diamond nitrogen-vacancy centers for applications in quantum and nanoscale photonics

Simeon Bogdanov, Abhishek B. Solanki, Zachariah O. Martin +6 more

Nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond have been long used for spin-based optical sensing and considered viable candidates for implementing spin-based quantum information protocols. Their unique advantages include their nanoscale size and the optical readout of the electron spin state. These features make them particularly fit for the use in integrated nanophotonic and quantum optical devices. We will discuss how the optical Purcell effect in plasmonic systems affects the NV spin readout signal and present the demonstration of this readout through optical plasmons in an integrated nanophotonic interface. We will show that spin relaxometry is a powerful tool that allows to probe the magnonic density of states and its electrical tuning with sub-um spatial resolution. Furthermore, we will discuss how spin signal readout sensitivity can be enhanced with the use of plasmonic nanostructures and Bayesian measurement methods.

Spintronics•Aug 20, 2020•0 citations
The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centre in diamond gained popularity as a probe for nanoscale sensing applications in research thanks to the array of sensing modalities available and the bio-compatibility of the material itself, however the utility of NV sensing is limited by the lack of suitable strategies to control them spatially. By confining single nanodiamonds using an optical tweezers (OT) we are able to combine the sensing opportunities of the NV centre with the precision control of position and orientation afforded by OT. This work is an investigation of the interaction of the trapping laser with the spin-based photoluminescence of the NV centre, further it is a demonstration of an all-optical sensing protocol which eliminates the spin depolarisation effects of the trapping laser and allows for NV spin relaxometry in an optically trapped nanodiamond. This relaxometry protocol can determine spin lattice relaxation times on the order of ms and requires relatively low trapping powers < 50 mW, making it particularly applicable to biological systems.
The use of optical tweezers as a tool to facilitate nondestructive nanoscale sensing has been a growing area of research, particularly in the biological sciences. The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond has attracted significant interest in this area due to the array of sensing modalities available and the biocompatibility of the material itself. Many of the diamond sensing modalities rely on the measurement and characterization of the NV spin. Recent work has demonstrated the utility of the spin–lattice relaxation time ( T 1 ) of NV centers in nanodiamond for nanoscale magnetic sensing and spectroscopy. Here, we demonstrate spin relaxometry with optically trapped nanodiamonds. The all-optical sensing protocol we developed eliminates the spin decoherence effects of the trapping laser and can determine spin–lattice relaxation times on the order of ms. Moreover, the protocol requires relatively low trapping powers <50 mW, making it particularly applicable to biological systems.
This thesis represents several steps in the development of Nitrogen-Vacancy Nanodiamond as an effective optical label for biological measurements and as a tool for nanometry and quantum information techniques. In this thesis I cover concrete progress in many areas of nanodiamond research, demonstrating that optical interactions alone can be used to control NV spin polarisation and measure NV temperature. I develop a method for high-contrast imaging of NV centres using magnetic modulation, and also show a method for measuring the Raman scattering of water to an unprecedented level of accuracy. This thesis also contains the outlines of two more experiments: one aimed at measuring NV concentration in aqueous nanodiamond suspensions, and another whose aim is to use multiple NV centres in a single nanodiamond to measure the orientation and strength of an external magnetic field.
Quantum sensing using nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond has emerged as a powerful platform for detecting ultra-low magnetic fields under ambient conditions. Owing to their long spin coherence times, optical addressability, and compatibility with aqueous environments, it has found widespread applications in biosensing and bio-imaging. This review presents the fundamental principles and recent advances in NV-based quantum magnetometry for biosensing applications, with a particular focus on measurements in aqueous medium and at cellular and molecular length scales. We discuss the underlying spin physics of NV centers and highlight two primary detection modalities: optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) and T1 relaxometry-based sensing and how these approaches aids in the detection of both static magnetic fields and dynamic magnetic noise arising from biological processes. The review explores key application areas, including nanoscale nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), monitoring of neural activity, detection of abnormal or rogue cells using NV-based platforms etc. In addition, strategies for enhancing sensitivity, such as surface functionalization of nanodiamonds, femtosecond (fs) laser-written photonic structures, and integration with microfluidic and lab-on-chip systems have also been discussed in depth. We also address the critical challenges, including surface-induced decoherence, charge-state instability, and signal-to-noise limitations in biofluids associated with NV-based biosensing applications. Finally, we outline future prospects, highlighting how NV-based magnetic biosensing provides a promising pathway for translating quantum sensing technologies into practical biomedical applications.
The NV defect center in diamond forms a pseudo-atomic quantum system with discreet optically excitable transitions between ground and excited states in the gap between valence and conduction bands, making the NV center a deep-level defect center in diamond. For the negatively charged NV center (NV-), both the ground and excited states are spin triplets (S=1) and coupling between optical and spin states provides unique opportunities for optical detection of magnetic resonance (ODMR) and quantum metrology under ambient conditions. As an atomically sized point defect that is stable in single nanodiamonds as small as a few nanometers, the NV center enables spin based imaging of temperature, electric fields, magnetic fields and mechanical strain with nanoscale spatial resolution. Made of carbon, nanodiamonds are also ideal nanoparticles for use in biological systems, exhibiting extremely low cytotoxicity, no photo bleaching and exceptional contrast in transmission electron and light microscopy. With the ability to act as both a passive, non perturbing sensor (e.g. a diamagnetic material used for sensing magnetic fields) and a connection point for two way, direct coupling of far field optics to NV−^-− spins and indirectly to the highly localized neighborhood of atoms, electronic states and phonon modes in the local vicinity, NV diamond provides a route to nanoscale field sensing and spin based optical microscopy. These sensors are also stable in nanodiamonds. For nanoparticles, the reduction in particle diameter dramatically enhances the proportion of the material that is surface exposed, enhancing any surface related properties. Nitrogen Vacancy centers in nanodiamonds provide another example of material properties that vary with particle size. In chapter 5, evidence that modulation of nanodiamonds fluorescent emissions by electrical perturbations in their surrouding environment allows transduction of local electrodynamics into a far field optical signal capable of mapping action potentials in cardiomyocytes in presented. The unifying theme for all of the work presented in this dissertation is to enable the use of magnetic resonance signals and interactions for imaging and sensing in previously inaccessible regimes. The specific focus is on methods and techniques to enable nanoscale physical sensing and functional imaging in live tissues, with the ultimate aim to lay the predicate for the combination of both without compromise.
The Nitrogen Vacancy (NV) centre is a point defect consisting of a nitrogen-vacancy lattice pair embedded in diamond. The NV centre has two stable charge states, the neutral charge state and the (NV0) and the negatively charged state (NV-) with photo induced interconversion between these two states [1]. The NV centre is an intensively studied material that has shown a wide range of applications in both Physics and Biology due to its high stability and interesting optical properties. Applications ranging from imaging and tracking biological structures, to nanoscale sensing, to applications in highly controlled quantum experiments have all been realised using these centres [2, 3]. However, these applications rely only on the NV-charge stage and often neglect the effects of the neutral charge state. As a result the NV0charge state has not received the same level of study as the NV-state and the effects of the interconversion between the two states are poorly understood, even though it can have a significant effect on the emitted fluorescence.
Nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond have been long used for spin-based optical sensing and considered viable candidates for implementing spin-based quantum information protocols. Their unique advantages include their nanoscale size and the optical readout of the electron spin state. These features make them particularly fit for the use in integrated nanophotonic and quantum optical devices. We will discuss how the optical Purcell effect in plasmonic systems affects the NV spin readout signal and present the demonstration of this readout through optical plasmons in an integrated nanophotonic interface. We will show that spin relaxometry is a powerful tool that allows to probe the magnonic density of states and its electrical tuning with sub-um spatial resolution. Furthermore, we will discuss how spin signal readout sensitivity can be enhanced with the use of plasmonic nanostructures and Bayesian measurement methods.