Advances in Stabilization and Enrichment of Shallow Nitrogen-Vacancy Centers in Diamond for Biosensing and Spin-Polarization Transfer.

Negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond have unique magneto-optical properties, such as high fluorescence, single-photon generation, millisecond-long coherence times, and the ability to initialize and read the spin state using purely optical means. This makes NV centers a powerful sensing tool for a range of applications, including magnetometry, electrometry, and thermometry. Biocompatible NV-rich nanodiamonds find application in cellular microscopy, nanoscopy, and in vivo imaging.

Divergent Effects of Laser Irradiation on Ensembles of Nitrogen-Vacancy Centers in Bulk and Nanodiamonds: Implications for Biosensing.

Ensembles of negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy centers (NV) in diamond have been proposed for sensing of magnetic fields and paramagnetic agents, and as a source of spin-order for the hyperpolarization of nuclei in magnetic resonance applications. To this end, strongly fluorescent nanodiamonds (NDs) represent promising materials, with large surface areas and dense ensembles of NV. However, surface effects tend to favor the less useful neutral form, the NV centers, and strategies to increase the density of shallow NV centers have been proposed, including irradiation with strong laser power (Gorrini in ACS Appl Mater Interfaces.

Long-Lived Ensembles of Shallow NV Centers in Flat and Nanostructured Diamonds by Photoconversion.

Shallow, negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy centers (NV) in diamond have been proposed for high-sensitivity magnetometry and spin-polarization transfer applications. However, surface effects tend to favor and stabilize the less useful neutral form, the NV centers. Here, we report the effects of green laser irradiation on ensembles of nanometer-shallow NV centers in flat and nanostructured diamond surfaces as a function of laser power in a range not previously explored (up to 150 mW/μm).

Fast and Sensitive Detection of Paramagnetic Species Using Coupled Charge and Spin Dynamics in Strongly Fluorescent Nanodiamonds.

Sensing of a few unpaired electron spins, such as in metal ions and radicals, is a useful but difficult task in nanoscale physics, biology, and chemistry. Single negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond offer high sensitivity and spatial resolution in the optical detection of weak magnetic fields produced by a spin bath but often require long acquisition times on the order of seconds. Here, we present an approach based on coupled spin and charge dynamics in dense NV ensembles in strongly fluorescent nanodiamonds (NDs) to sense external magnetic dipoles.

An all-optical single-step process for production of nanometric-sized fluorescent diamonds.

Nanodiamonds (NDs) containing negatively charged Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) centers are promising materials for applications in photonics, quantum computing, and sensing of environmental parameters like temperature, strain and magnetic fields. However, the production of fluorescent NDs remains a technological challenge, requiring a complex multi-step process involving controlled introduction of substitutional nitrogen into the diamond lattice, annealing and fragmentation from macrocrystals to nanocrystals. Here, we report on a single-step, all-optical process for the production of nanometric-sized fluorescent diamonds based on laser ablation of a carbon substrate at low temperature (100 °C) under a nitrogen atmosphere.

On the thermodynamic path enabling a room-temperature, laser-assisted graphite to nanodiamond transformation.

Nanodiamonds are the subject of active research for their potential applications in nano-magnetometry, quantum optics, bioimaging and water cleaning processes. Here, we present a novel thermodynamic model that describes a graphite-liquid-diamond route for the synthesis of nanodiamonds. Its robustness is proved via the production of nanodiamonds powders at room-temperature and standard atmospheric pressure by pulsed laser ablation of pyrolytic graphite in water.

Liquid nanodroplet formation through phase explosion mechanism in laser-irradiated metal targets.

Some quantitative aspects of laser-irradiated pure metals, while approaching phase explosion, are still not completely understood. Here, we develop a model that describes the main quantities regulating the liquid-vapor explosive phase transition and the expulsion of liquid nanodroplets that, by solidifying, give rise to nanoparticle formation. The model combines both a thermodynamics description of the explosive phase change and a Monte Carlo simulation of the randomly generated critical vapor bubbles.

Mutants of Bacillus subtilis temperature sensitive in the outgrowth phase of spore germination.

Thirteen thermosensitive mutants of Bacillus subtilis defective in the outgrowth phase of spore germination were isolated. The spores of the mutants grow into vegetative cells at 35 C but not at 47 C, whereas the vegetative cells grow equally well at both temperatures. At 47 C all the mutant spores are able to initiate germination, but the process stops at an early phase of outgrowth in one strain and in a late phase in the other 12 strains.