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Far-field optical imaging and manipulation of individual spins with nanoscale resolution

Nature Physics volume 6, pages 912–918 (2010)Cite this article

Abstract

A fundamental limit to existing optical techniques for measurementand manipulation of spin degrees of freedom is set by diffraction, which does not allow spins separated by less than about a quarter of a micrometre to be resolved using conventional far-field optics. Here, we report an efficient far-field optical technique that overcomes the limiting role of diffraction, allowing individual electronic spins to be detected, imaged and manipulated coherently with nanoscale resolution. The technique involves selective flipping of the orientation of individual spins, associated with nitrogen-vacancy centres in room-temperature diamond, using a focused beam of light with intensity vanishing at a controllable location, which enables simultaneous single-spin imaging and magnetometry at the nanoscale with considerably less power than conventional techniques. Furthermore, by inhibiting spin transitions away from the laser intensity null, selective coherent rotation of individual spins is realized. This technique can be extended to subnanometre dimensions, thus enabling applications in diverse areas ranging from quantum information science to bioimaging.

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Figure 1: Principles of subdiffraction far-field optical imaging and manipulation of individual NV electronic spins in diamond (spin-RESOLFT).
Figure 2: Demonstration of subdiffraction optical spin imaging.
Figure 3: Subdiffraction optical magnetic sensing.
Figure 4: Subdiffraction coherent manipulation of spectrally indistinguishable NV spins using optically induced effects.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge P. Cappellaro, Y. Chu, S. Folling, M. Greiner, P. Hemmer, E. Rittweger, B. Shields, E. Togan, A. Trifonov and D. Wildanger for valuable discussions and technical assistance. This work was supported by the NSF, DARPA, the Packard Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution and Harvard CNS.

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Author notes

  1. P. C. Maurer, J. R. Maze and P. L. Stanwix: These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA

    P. C. Maurer, J. R. Maze, A. V. Gorshkov, A. A. Zibrov, J. S. Hodges, A. S. Zibrov, A. Yacoby, R. L. Walsworth & M. D. Lukin

  2. Facultad de Física, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Casilla 306, Santiago, Chile

    J. R. Maze

  3. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA

    P. L. Stanwix & R. L. Walsworth

  4. School of Physics, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia

    P. L. Stanwix

  5. Institute for Quantum Information, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA

    L. Jiang

  6. Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, 37077 Gottingen, Germany

    B. Harke & S. W. Hell

  7. Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA

    J. S. Hodges

  8. Element Six Ltd, Ascot SL5 8BP, UK

    D. Twitchen

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Correspondence to M. D. Lukin.

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Maurer, P., Maze, J., Stanwix, P. et al. Far-field optical imaging and manipulation of individual spins with nanoscale resolution. Nature Phys 6, 912–918 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1774

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