Room-temperature quantum sensing with photoexcited triplet electrons in organic crystals

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates room-temperature quantum sensing using photoexcited triplet electrons in organic crystals, achieving high contrast and long coherence times, with potential for scalable, low-cost sensors in chemical systems.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to quantum sensing with organic triplet states at room temperature, showing high ODMR contrast and long coherence times in organic crystals.

Findings

High ODMR contrast of approximately 16.8% at room temperature.

Long coherence times of 2.7 microseconds (T2) and 18.4 microseconds (T2^DD).

Ability to grow large, low-cost organic crystals suitable for sensing.

Abstract

Quantum sensors have notably advanced high-sensitivity magnetic field detection. Here, we report quantum sensors constructed from polarized spin-triplet electrons in photoexcited organic chromophores, specifically focusing on pentacene-doped para-terphenyl (${\approx}$0.1%). We demonstrate essential quantum sensing properties at room temperature: electronic optical polarization and state-dependent fluorescence contrast, by leveraging differential pumping and relaxation rates between triplet and ground states. We measure high optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) contrast ${\approx}16.8\%$ of the triplet states at room temperature, along with long coherence times under spin echo and CPMG sequences, $T_2{=}2.7\mu$s and $T_2^{DD}{=}18.4\mu$s respectively, limited only by the triplet lifetimes. The material offers several advantages for quantum sensing, including the ability to grow large ($cm$-scale) crystals at low cost, the absence of paramagnetic impurities, and the diamagnetism of electronic states used for sensing when not optically illuminated. Utilizing pentacene as a representative of a broader class of spin triplet-polarizable organic molecules, this study highlights new potential for quantum sensing in chemical systems.