Diamond based single molecule magnetic resonance spectroscopy

TL;DR

This paper proposes a theoretical method using a diamond nitrogen-vacancy center to detect and analyze individual nuclear spins in molecules, enabling advanced single-molecule spectroscopy for chemistry and biology.

Contribution

It introduces a novel theoretical design for a diamond-based nanoscale spectrometer capable of detecting single nuclear spins and their configurations.

Findings

Theoretical demonstration of NV center as a single-molecule spectrometer

Capability to determine the position and spin state of a single nucleus

Potential applications in protein structure and biomolecular dynamics

Abstract

The detection of a nuclear spin in an individual molecule represents a key challenge in physics and biology whose solution has been pursued for many years. The small magnetic moment of a single nucleus and the unavoidable environmental noise present the key obstacles for its realization. Here, we demonstrate theoretically that a single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond can be used to construct a nano-scale single molecule spectrometer that is capable of detecting the position and spin state of a single nucleus and can determine the distance and alignment of a nuclear or electron spin pair. The proposed device will find applications in single molecule spectroscopy in chemistry and biology, such as in determining protein structure or monitoring macromolecular motions and can thus provide a tool to help unravelling the microscopic mechanisms underlying bio-molecular function.