Nanoscale nuclear magnetic resonance with chemical resolution.

Aslam, Nabeel; Pfender, Matthias; Neumann, Philipp; Reuter, Rolf; Zappe, Andrea; Fávaro de Oliveira, Felipe; Denisenko, Andrej; Sumiya, Hitoshi et al. · Science · 2017

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a key analytical technique in chemistry, biology, and medicine. However, conventional NMR spectroscopy requires an at least nanoliter-sized sample volume to achieve sufficient signal. We combined the use of a quantum memory and high magnetic fields with a dedicated quantum sensor based on nitrogen vacancy centers in diamond to achieve chemical shift resolution in <sup>1</sup>H and <sup>19</sup>F NMR spectroscopy of 20-zeptoliter sample volumes. We demonstrate the application of NMR pulse sequences to achieve homonuclear decoupling and spin diffusion measurements. The best measured NMR linewidth of a liquid sample was ~1 part per million, mainly limited by molecular diffusion. To mitigate the influence of diffusion, we performed high-resolution solid-state NMR by applying homonuclear decoupling and achieved a 20-fold narrowing of the NMR linewidth.