Systems and methods for deterministic emitter switch microscopy

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9632045-B2
Application number	US-201414227076-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 27, 2014
Priority date	Oct 19, 2011
Publication date	Apr 25, 2017
Grant date	Apr 25, 2017

Abstract

Techniques for deterministic switch microscopy include resolving at least one nitrogen vacancy center in a diamond structure. A magnetic field can be applied across the diamond structure and the nitrogen vacancy centers can be optically excited. The nitrogen vacancy centers can be switched from a dark state to a bright state or a bright state by a dark state by applying at least one microwave pulse. A fluorescent response of each nitrogen vacancy center can be detected and a nitrogen vacancy center can be resolved based on the fluorescent response of each nitrogen vacancy center as it corresponds to the orientation of the nitrogen vacancy center relative to the applied magnetic field.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for resolving at least one nitrogen vacancy center, comprising:
providing at least one diamond structure with one or more nitrogen vacancy centers within a focal location, wherein the focal location is a wide field of view, each nitrogen vacancy center being in either a dark state or a bright state;
applying a magnetic field across the at least one diamond structure;
optically exciting the one or more nitrogen vacancy centers;
switching at least one nitrogen vacancy center from the dark state to the bright state or from the bright state to the dark state by applying at least one microwave pulse to the one or more nitrogen vacancy centers;
detecting a fluorescent response of each nitrogen vacancy center; and
resolving at least one of the nitrogen vacancy centers based on the fluorescent response of each nitrogen vacancy center, the fluorescent response of each nitrogen vacancy center corresponding to its orientation relative to the magnetic field.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the optically exciting includes directing a continuous wave of pump light at approximately 532 nm to the nitrogen vacancy center.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the optically exciting includes applying a pulse of pump light at approximately 532 nm to the nitrogen vacancy center prior to applying the at least one microwave pulse, and applying a pulse of pump light at approximately 532 nm to the nitrogen vacancy center subsequent to applying the at least one microwave pulse.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the providing at least one diamond structure with one or more nitrogen vacancy centers further comprises providing a plurality of nitrogen vacancy centers, at least some having differing orientations with respect to the magnetic field, whereby a spin sublevel of each nitrogen vacancy center experiences a Zeeman splitting corresponding to the orientation of the nitrogen vacancy center with respect to the magnetic field.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein applying at least one microwave pulse further comprises tuning a first microwave pulse to a field splitting frequency of a first one of the nitrogen vacancy centers, thereby modulating the fluorescent response of the first one of the nitrogen vacancy centers.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein applying at least one microwave pulse further comprises tuning at least a second microwave pulse to a field splitting frequency of a second one of the nitrogen vacancy centers, thereby modulating the fluorescent response of the second one of the nitrogen vacancy centers.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein applying at least one microwave pulse further comprises:
applying the first microwave pulse at a first frequency, the first frequency tuned to the field splitting frequency of the first one of the nitrogen vacancy centers;
applying the second microwave pulse at a second frequency, the second frequency tuned to the field splitting frequency of the second one of the nitrogen vacancy centers; and
applying at least a third microwave pulse at a third frequency, the third frequency tuned a frequency not corresponding to a field splitting frequency of either the first or the second one of the nitrogen vacancy centers.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein detecting the fluorescent response of each nitrogen vacancy center further comprises:
generating a first intensity plot of a first fluorescent response corresponding to the first frequency;
generating a second intensity plot of a second fluorescent response corresponding to the second frequency; and
generating at least a third intensity plot of a third fluorescent response corresponding to the third frequency.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein resolving the at least one nitrogen vacancy center includes determining the position of the first one of the nitrogen vacancy centers by subtracting the first and third intensity plots from the second intensity plot.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein applying at least one microwave pulse further includes continuously varying a frequency of a microwave emission.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the switching at least one nitrogen vacancy center and the detecting a florescent response further comprises applying a plurality of microwave pulses and detecting a plurality of fluorescent responses, corresponding to the plurality of microwave pulses, to obtain a full electron spin resonance spectrum for a plurality of locations of a sample; and wherein resolving at least one nitrogen vacancy center further comprises:
fitting the electronic spin resonance spectrum with a sum of Lorentzian dips;
generating an intensity map for the nitrogen vacancy center using contrasts from the fitted electron spin resonance spectrum.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein at least one of the Lorentzian dips at least partially overlaps at least one other of the Lorentzian dips.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the focal location contains a plurality of diffraction-limited areas.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the focal location includes at least one diffraction-limited area selected from the wide field of view, the selected at least one diffraction-limited area having a fluorescent response with an intensity above a threshold.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the focal location includes a confocal scan area.

16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing at least one fluorophore having an emission spectrum at least partially overlapping with an emission spectrum of the one or more nitrogen vacancy centers, wherein a fluorescent response of one of the nitrogen vacancy centers optically excites the fluorophore if the one of the nitrogen vacancy centers is within a threshold distance of fluorophore; and
detecting a fluorescent response of the fluorophore corresponding to the optical excitation of the one of the nitrogen vacancy centers.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising determining a distance of one of the nitrogen vacancy centers from the fluorophore based on at least the fluorescent response of the one of the nitrogen vacancy centers and the fluorescent response of the fluorophore.

18. The method of claim 16 , further comprising determining an orientation of a magnetic dipole of a molecule, the fluorophore coupled to the molecule, based on at least the fluorescent response of the one of the nitrogen vacancy centers and the fluorescent response of the fluorophore.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one diamond structure is exposed to an environment, wherein applying at least one microwave pulse includes applying two or more microwave pulses, each microwave pulse having a different frequency, and wherein detecting the fluorescent response of each nitrogen vacancy center includes detecting a fluorescent response corresponding to each microwave pulse, the method further comprising determining, based on the fluorescent response of each nitrogen vacancy center, a characteristic of the environment.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the characteristic of the environment includes local magnetic field, local electric field, or pH.

21. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining the location of a particle corresponding to the resolved at least one of the nitrogen vacancy centers.

22. A system for resolving at least one nitrogen vacancy center within a focal location using an applied magnetic field, wherein the focal location is a wide field of flew, comprising:
a light source, operatively configu

Assignees

• Univ Columbia

Inventors

• Englund Dirk R
• Chen Edward H
• Gaathon Ophir

Classifications

• G01R33/323

  Detection of MR without the use of RF or microwaves, e.g. force-detected MR, thermally detected MR, MR detection via electrical conductivity, optically detected MR · CPC title

• G01N21/6458

  Fluorescence microscopy (fluorescence microscopes per se G02B21/0076 and G02B21/16) · CPC title

• G01N21/6402

  Atomic fluorescence; Laser induced fluorescence · CPC title

• G01N24/10

  by using electron paramagnetic resonance (G01N24/12 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01N24/006 Primary

  using optical pumping (magnetometers using optical pumping G01R33/26, optical pumping of lasers H01S3/091) · CPC title