We report electron spin resonance spectroscopy measurements performed at millikelvin temperatures in a custom-built spectrometer comprising a superconducting micro-resonator at $7$ GHz and a Josephson parametric amplifier. Owing to the small ${sim}10^{-12}lambda^3$ magnetic resonator mode volume and to the low noise of the parametric amplifier, the spectrometer sensitivity reaches $260pm40$ spins$/$echo and $65pm10$ $mathrm{spins}/sqrt{text{Hz}}$, respectively.
We report electron spin resonance measurements of donors in silicon at millikelvin temperatures using a superconducting $LC$ planar micro-resonator and a Josephson Parametric Amplifier. The resonator includes a nanowire inductor, defining a femtoliter detection volume. Due to strain in the substrate, the donor resonance lines are heavily broadened. Single-spin to photon coupling strengths up to $sim 3~text{kHz}$ are observed. The single shot sensitivity is $120 pm 24~$spins/Hahn echo, corresponding to $approx 12 pm 3$~spins$/sqrt{text{Hz}}$ for repeated acquisition.
We report the detection and polarization of nuclear spins in diamond at room temperature by using a single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center. We use Hartmann-Hahn double resonance to coherently enhance the signal from a single nuclear spin while decoupling from the noisy spin-bath, which otherwise limits the detection sensitivity. As a proof-of-principle we: (I) observe coherent oscillations between the NV center and a weakly coupled nuclear spin, (II) demonstrate nuclear bath cooling which prolongs the coherence time of the NV sensor by more than a factor of five. Our results provide a route to nanometer scale magnetic resonance imaging, and novel quantum information processing protocols.
We report pulsed electron-spin resonance (ESR) measurements on an ensemble of Bismuth donors in Silicon cooled at 10mK in a dilution refrigerator. Using a Josephson parametric microwave amplifier combined with high-quality factor superconducting micro-resonators cooled at millikelvin temperatures, we improve the state-of-the-art sensitivity of inductive ESR detection by nearly 4 orders of magnitude. We demonstrate the detection of 1700 bismuth donor spins in silicon within a single Hahn echo with unit signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio, reduced to just 150 spins by averaging a single Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill sequence. This unprecedented sensitivity reaches the limit set by quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field instead of thermal or technical noise, which constitutes a novel regime for magnetic resonance.
We report on electron spin resonance spectroscopy measurements using a superconducting flux qubit with a sensing volume of 6 fl. The qubit is read out using a frequency-tunable Josephson bifurcation amplifier, which leads to an inferred measurement sensitivity of about 20 spins in a 1 s measurement. This sensitivity represents an order of magnitude improvement when compared with flux-qubit schemes using a dc-SQUID switching readout. Furthermore, noise spectroscopy reveals that the sensitivity is limited by flicker ($1/f$) flux noise.
We report the nanoscale spin detection and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectrum of copper (Cu$^{2+}$) ions via double electron-electron resonance with single spins in diamond at room temperature and low magnetic fields. We measure unexpectedly narrow EPR resonances with linewidths $sim 2-3$ MHz from copper-chloride molecules dissolved in poly-lysine. We also observe coherent Rabi oscillations and hyperfine splitting from single Cu$^{2+}$ ions, which could be used for dynamic nuclear spin polarization and higher sensitivity of spin detection. We interpret and analyze these observations using both spin hamiltonian modeling of the copper-chloride molecules and numerical simulations of the predicted DEER response, and obtain a sensing volume $sim (250 text{nm})^3$. This work will open the door for copper-labeled EPR measurements under ambient conditions in bio-molecules and nano-materials.