Q_Magine

Scalable Electrically Read Diamond Spin Qubit Technology for Single Molecule Quantum Imagers

Diamond quantum sensors will be among the first quantum technology devices on the market for applications in medicine, biology, chemistry and nanoelectronics. Ground-breaking progress in quantum metrology using NV diamond single spin qubits operating at room temperatures has led to imaging single molecules carrying nuclear (1) or electron spin (2) and ultra-weak magnetic and electric fields (3)(4)(5). Q-Magine comes with a disruptive approach for NV spin projection measurements, by developing a new technology - single qubit matrix sensors, based on hybrid photoelectric detection of NV electron spin resonances at room temperature, introduced jointly by the applicants (6)(7)(8). This technique has potential for a dramatic increase of the Signal to noise ratio compared to optical methods [a factor 1000 has already been demonstrated (7)], that will ultimately lead to single shot readout (9). The electrical readout provides the device scalability and compatibility with semiconductor processing methods, which is one of the bottleneck issues for pushing forward the quantum technologies. Q-Magine will also develop technology for the control of individual qubit sites arranged in arrays. The quantum method of addressing the individual sensor pixels will enable high-fidelity readout of electron and nuclear spins in these sites (9)(10). The technique will be supported by chemical methods for atomic engineering allowing placement of individual target molecules onto the sensors surface. As a result matrix wide field imagers of magnetic field without the need for scanning will be developed with a vast potential for biology (single molecular NMR), chemistry, medicine, engineering and applications to imaging of fundamental processes in solids. The scalable approach and integration with peripheral supporting electronics will open the way to a quantum matrix imager with sub-µm single spin qubit pixels. This approach will allow further progress towards single molecular NMR imaging, resolving the structure of individual molecules without requiring averaging and determination of their chemical fingerprint by measuring the chemical shift. In the field of quantum technologies it will lead to progress on scalable qubit control, quantum memories and simulators. At the same time there are numerous industrial applications for the ultrasensitive detection of magnetic and electric fields developed in Q-Magine, e.g. in the consumer electronics, IT, automotive, medical diagnostics, and aerospace sectors (11).

References:

1.            Staudacher, T. et al. 2015, Nat. Comm., Vol. 6, 8527

“Probing molecular dynamics at the nanoscale via an individual paramagnetic centre”

https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9527

2.            Shi, F. et al. 2015, Science, Vol. 347, pp. 1135-1138

Single-protein spin resonance spectroscopy under ambient conditions”

https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaa2253

3.            Degen, C. L. et al. (2008), Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 92, p. 243111

“Scanning magnetic field microscope with a diamond single-spin sensor”

https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2943282

4.            Dolde, F. et al. (2011), Nat. Phys., Vol. 7, pp. 459-463

“Electric-field sensing using single diamond spins”

https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1969

5.            Wolf, T. et al. (2015), Phys. Rev. X, Vol. 5, p. 041001

“Subpicotesla Diamond Magnetometry”

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.5.041001

6.            Bourgeois, E., Jelezko, F., Nesladek, M. et al. 2015, Nat. Comm., Vol. 6,

“Photoelectric detection of electron spin resonance of nitrogen-vacancy centres in diamond”

https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9577

7.            Bourgeois, E., Trupke, M., Gali, A., Nesladek, M. et al. 2017, Phys. Rev. B – RC, Vol. 95, p. 041402(R)

“Enhanced photoelectric detection of NV magnetic resonances in diamond under dual-beam excitation”

doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.95.041402

8.            Gulka, M., Gali, A., Jelezko, F., Trupke, M., Nesladek, M. et. al. (2017), Phys. Rev. Applied 7, 044032

“Pulsed Photoelectric Coherent Manipulation and Detection of N−V Center Spins in Diamond”

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.7.044032

9.            Patent application: IMEC vzw, Magnetometer sensor with negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond, EP16169428 (12 May 2016), PA 2015/339 EP1.

10.          Schmitt, S., Jelezko F. et al. (2017), Science 356, 832–837

“Submillihertz magnetic spectroscopy performed with a nanoscale quantum sensor”

https://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aam5532

11.          Boss, JM et. al. (2017), Science 356 (6340), 837-840

“Quantum sensing with arbitrary frequency resolution”

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