Maurer, Peter

Date: Wednesday July 2, 2014
Time: 11:00
Place: ETH Zurich, Hönggerberg, HPF G 6
Host: Atac Imamoglu

Coherent control of diamond defects: Nanoscale sensing in living cells

Peter Maurer
Harvard University, Cambridge, USA

Quantum control of nanoscale systems under ambient conditions has wide-ranging applications from quantum computation and communication to precision measurements and quantum sensing. I will discuss novel metrological techniques based on the quantum mechanical control of individual electron spins associated with Nitrogen Vacancy (NV) color centers in diamond. I will begin by discussing how quantum manipulation allows for the controlled decoupling of the NV spin from it's environment, resulting in an extension of the coherence time of a room-temperature NV-based quantum bit from a few milliseconds to several seconds. Using the toolbox of quantum control, I will then introduce a NV-based technique, which enables the sensitive probing of temperature variations at nanometer length scales with unprecedented accuracy. Finally, I will demonstrate a technique to control the temperature profile in living biological cells by combining nanoscale temperature sensing with local laser-induced heating of gold nanoparticles. Direct applications of these quantum metrology techniques including temperature-induced control of gene expression and control of nanoscale chemical reactions will be discussed.