Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MaGNiFi (Nuclear Magnetic resonance auGmented by Nitrogen-vacancy centres and Field versatility)
Período documentado: 2021-06-01 hasta 2023-05-31
What is the problem/issue being addressed?
Nitrogen Vacancy (NV) centers in diamonds have an enormous potential to enable a new class of ultra-sensitive, low-cost and miniaturized Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) instruments. Although encouraging results have been achieved, existing NMR prototypes that employ NV centers are not ready to be used as universal analytical devices for real-world applications. For these systems to become a practical instrument, foremost it is necessary to increase their sensitivity to NMR signals to detect, for example, disease indicators such as bio-molecules that appear very diluted in the human body. It is also important that the detection achieves high-frequency resolution to discern the relevant signatures encoded in the wealth of information carried by NMR signals. Besides, current systems require expensive instrumentation that would constrain their widespread use, hence reducing the costs of the components of these systems is equally important to convert this technology economically viable and widely accessible.
Why is it important for society?
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) has become the gold standard for an ever-increasing number of applications across multiple sectors such as medical, pharmaceutical, chemical, and food industries. Its versatility arises owing to the NMR phenomenon producing an information-rich signal as nuclear spins report about physical, chemical and biological processes in their local environment. However, much of the information that the NMR signal carries goes undetected as its strength is very weak. This inhibits its application to small volumes or concentrations such as many metabolites and other biomolecules that are key for drug discovery and for early detection of diseases such as cancer or brain degeneration. The proposed developments would pave the way towards a new class of NMR instrument that would complement existing NMR devices with higher sensitivity and resolution, and reduce its instrumentation costs in a large range of applications. Such disruptive technology could allow detecting diseases much earlier than ever and gaining insight into the functioning of cells at individual molecular level. Importantly, this device would complement the benefits of existing NMR systems at a fraction of their cost and size. Given the overarching use of NMR in areas such as health, environment and food, this project can have a broad positive impact on society.
What are the overall objectives?
The overall goal of this project is to develop pulse sequence protocols and hardware to increase the sensitivity of NV centers so they can be applied in practical settings for NMR purposes. The sensitivity enhancement is on the one hand pursued through optimizing and accelerating pulse sequence protocols. On the other hand, the hardware is carefully engineered and assessed to address signal losses to enhance the signal and attenuate noise sources to minimize the noise.
Nitrogen Vacancy (NV) centers in diamonds have an enormous potential to enable a new class of ultra-sensitive, low-cost and miniaturized Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) instruments. Although encouraging results have been achieved, existing NMR prototypes that employ NV centers are not ready to be used as universal analytical devices for real-world applications. For these systems to become a practical instrument, foremost it is necessary to increase their sensitivity to NMR signals to detect, for example, disease indicators such as bio-molecules that appear very diluted in the human body. It is also important that the detection achieves high-frequency resolution to discern the relevant signatures encoded in the wealth of information carried by NMR signals. Besides, current systems require expensive instrumentation that would constrain their widespread use, hence reducing the costs of the components of these systems is equally important to convert this technology economically viable and widely accessible.
Why is it important for society?
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) has become the gold standard for an ever-increasing number of applications across multiple sectors such as medical, pharmaceutical, chemical, and food industries. Its versatility arises owing to the NMR phenomenon producing an information-rich signal as nuclear spins report about physical, chemical and biological processes in their local environment. However, much of the information that the NMR signal carries goes undetected as its strength is very weak. This inhibits its application to small volumes or concentrations such as many metabolites and other biomolecules that are key for drug discovery and for early detection of diseases such as cancer or brain degeneration. The proposed developments would pave the way towards a new class of NMR instrument that would complement existing NMR devices with higher sensitivity and resolution, and reduce its instrumentation costs in a large range of applications. Such disruptive technology could allow detecting diseases much earlier than ever and gaining insight into the functioning of cells at individual molecular level. Importantly, this device would complement the benefits of existing NMR systems at a fraction of their cost and size. Given the overarching use of NMR in areas such as health, environment and food, this project can have a broad positive impact on society.
What are the overall objectives?
The overall goal of this project is to develop pulse sequence protocols and hardware to increase the sensitivity of NV centers so they can be applied in practical settings for NMR purposes. The sensitivity enhancement is on the one hand pursued through optimizing and accelerating pulse sequence protocols. On the other hand, the hardware is carefully engineered and assessed to address signal losses to enhance the signal and attenuate noise sources to minimize the noise.
Two different hardware platforms have been developed to pursue two different purposes: 1) a high-end confocal microscope system that enables addressing down to individual NV center has been built to gain insight on NV center behavior and 2) a bulk NV center platform to exploit part of the insight brought by the first setup but with the sensitivity advantage brought by addressing a pool of NV centers orders of magnitude higher.
The first system takes advantage of an array of permanent magnets for minimal magnetic field noise and a manually adjustable field strength. This system combines two 3D positioners, one with micrometer resolution and the other with nanometer resolution that complement each other to sweep large volumes (25x25x25 mm) whilst being able to maintain the nanometer scale precision needed to locate isolated NV centers.
The second system is composed of customized digital and analogue electronics that enhance critical performance parameters but, at the same time, together with simplified optical components, largely reduce instrumentation size and costs. Amongst others, several Open-Source components have been tailored to suit the specific needs of the instrument such as a low noise power amplifier for the electromagnet, an FPGA based console to accurately control the timing of pulse sequences, and a 3D Helmholtz coil holder. A key characteristic of this system is its design to boost the sensitivity by addressing a large pool of NV centers, which is achieved by a custom-made microwave resonator that generates a strong magnetic field with low in-homogeneity. This platform can quickly and reliably change the intensity and direction of the external magnetic field, which is being exploited to implement novel pulse sequences and to train machine learning assisted sensing.
The first system takes advantage of an array of permanent magnets for minimal magnetic field noise and a manually adjustable field strength. This system combines two 3D positioners, one with micrometer resolution and the other with nanometer resolution that complement each other to sweep large volumes (25x25x25 mm) whilst being able to maintain the nanometer scale precision needed to locate isolated NV centers.
The second system is composed of customized digital and analogue electronics that enhance critical performance parameters but, at the same time, together with simplified optical components, largely reduce instrumentation size and costs. Amongst others, several Open-Source components have been tailored to suit the specific needs of the instrument such as a low noise power amplifier for the electromagnet, an FPGA based console to accurately control the timing of pulse sequences, and a 3D Helmholtz coil holder. A key characteristic of this system is its design to boost the sensitivity by addressing a large pool of NV centers, which is achieved by a custom-made microwave resonator that generates a strong magnetic field with low in-homogeneity. This platform can quickly and reliably change the intensity and direction of the external magnetic field, which is being exploited to implement novel pulse sequences and to train machine learning assisted sensing.
The project has facilitated the construction of two complementary advanced sensing NV center platforms. The MaGNiFi instrument developed can generate a magnetic field in any direction switching if at speeds faster than 10 kHz. This field switching capability enables the exploration of new pulse sequences and massive data collection for training machine learning algorithms. Importantly, the system built makes a big step towards making this technology more accessible, as this effort has produced many of the components Open-Source, and these are much more affordable than the usual equipment employed for this technology.
Thanks to the two instruments developed, the research line that has sprouted from this MSCA action has become an essential pillar in a local ecosystem for NV center based quantum technologies. The stakeholders that have engaged in this research include actors from basic science to technology transfer experts. Among others, this action has enabled ongoing collaborations of this research line with industry partners like Tecnalia, Microliquids, Multiverse Computing, AVS, research centers such as Tekniker, Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), and academic partners including the University of the Basque Country (EHU/UPV), Technical University of Eindhoven (TU/e).
The instrumentation and network created during this action have set solid grounds for NV centers to be a front runner to become a new class of NMR and other quantum sensing solutions.
Thanks to the two instruments developed, the research line that has sprouted from this MSCA action has become an essential pillar in a local ecosystem for NV center based quantum technologies. The stakeholders that have engaged in this research include actors from basic science to technology transfer experts. Among others, this action has enabled ongoing collaborations of this research line with industry partners like Tecnalia, Microliquids, Multiverse Computing, AVS, research centers such as Tekniker, Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), and academic partners including the University of the Basque Country (EHU/UPV), Technical University of Eindhoven (TU/e).
The instrumentation and network created during this action have set solid grounds for NV centers to be a front runner to become a new class of NMR and other quantum sensing solutions.