Some might call it a diamond in the rough: NV center magnetometry, which uses specially adapted diamonds to make sensitive measurements of magnetic signals, is a promising technology for studying a wide range of topics from cell biology to computing. So far, scientists have shown the technique has high sensitivity, able to detect magnetic fields about 100 million times smaller than the field from a typical refrigerator magnet. In fact, it is so sensitive it can measure the firing of single neurons within living tissue.
Credit: Jennifer Lauren Lee/NIST
This diamond lattice made of carbon atoms (blue) contains a single NV center. The NV center consists of a nitrogen atom (purple) and a “hole” or vacancy.
Some researchers believe it has the potential someday to help scientists better understand neuron-related diseases such as multiple sclerosis. However, NV center magnetometry might be more useful now if it were more efficient.
Right now, to make a measurement, scientists shine green light onto the diamond. Emitted red light tells researchers information about the magnetic field to which the crystal was exposed.
But the time it takes to collect the relatively small amount of red light can make experiments prohibitively slow and expensive.
In a paper published in Physical Review Applied, NIST researchers report a major improvement to NV center magnetometry. The NIST team has created a set of algorithms that use machine learning methods to speed up measurements by more than an order of magnitude. An experiment that once took weeks could now take days.
Furthermore, the technique does not require expensive changes to hardware. It is all software-based.
“This is a compensation method,” said NIST physicist Robert McMichael, who created the algorithm with NIST’s Sergey Dushenko and Kapild ..
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