How a molecule can become a useful quantum sensor

Neil Gershenfeld, Isaac L. Chuang

Markus Arndt, Lucia Hackermüller, Klaus Hornberger +1 more

One of the basic objectives in the foundations of physics is to understand the detailed circumstances of the transition from pure quantum effects to classical appearances. This field has gained an even increased attention because of the fact that quantum phenomena on the mesoscopic or even macroscopic scale promise to be useful for future technologies, such as in lithography with clusters and molecules, quantum computing or highly sensitive quantum sensors. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Ana R. Bastos, Emmanuel Zambrini Cruzeiro, M. Niehus +1 more

J. M. Boss, K. Chang, Julien Armijo +4 more

We report on Fourier spectroscopy experiments performed with near-surface nitrogen-vacancy centers in a diamond chip. By detecting the free precession of nuclear spins rather than applying a multipulse quantum sensing protocol, we are able to unambiguously identify the NMR species devoid of harmonics. We further show that, by engineering different Hamiltonians during free precession, the hyperfine coupling parameters as well as the nuclear Larmor frequency can be selectively measured with up to five digits of precision. The protocols can be combined to demonstrate two-dimensional Fourier spectroscopy. Presented techniques will be useful for mapping nuclear coordinates in molecules deposited on diamond sensor chips, en route to imaging their atomic structure.

Kevin C. Cox, David H. Meyer, Fredrik K. Fatemi +1 more

We use a quantum sensor based on thermal Rydberg atoms to receive data encoded in electromagnetic fields in the extreme electrically small regime, with a sensing volume over 10^{7} times smaller than the cube of the electric field wavelength. We introduce the standard quantum limit for data capacity, and experimentally observe quantum-limited data reception for bandwidths from 10 kHz up to 30 MHz. In doing this, we provide a useful alternative to classical communication antennas, which become increasingly ineffective when the size of the antenna is significantly smaller than the wavelength of the electromagnetic field.

David P. DeMille, Nicholas R. Hutzler, Ana María Rey +1 more