Browsing by Author "Schäfer-Nolte, Eike Oliver"

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    Development of a diamond-based scanning probe spin sensor operating at low temperature in ultra high vacuum
    (2014) Schäfer-Nolte, Eike Oliver; Wrachtrup, Jörg (Prof. Dr.)
    This thesis describes the development of a scanning probe microscope for the detection of single spins with nanoscale spatial resolution. The central element of this instrument is the nitrogen-vacancy (NV-) center in diamond, a color center that can be employed as a highly-precise magnetic field sensor. Using this center as an atomic-size scanning probe enables imaging of weak magnetic fields on the nanoscale. The sensitivity of the NV center is sufficient to detect individual electron and even nuclear spins via magnetic dipolar interactions. The quantum mechanical spin state of these target spins can be manipulated by resonant radio frequency or microwave pulses and subsequently read out via the NV center, which facilitates electron spin resonance and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy on the single molecule level. We developed an experimental setup to operate this sensor in a cryogenic ultra high vacuum environment. This extends the applicability to a variety of molecular systems due to the enhanced target spin lifetimes at low temperature and the controlled sample preparation under vacuum conditions. The instrument combines a tuning-fork based atomic force microscope with a high numeric aperture confocal microscope and the facilities for application of radio-frequency fields for spin manipulation. Details of the design and the performance of the experimental apparatus are presented in this thesis. As a first application of the NV scanning probe magnetometer to the investigation of molecular systems we demonstrate the detection of the magnetization dynamics of individual ferritin proteins at variable temperature over a wide frequency range.