{"id":1831,"date":"2016-07-20T20:27:00","date_gmt":"2016-07-20T20:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.74.50.173\/2016\/07\/precisely-controlled-levitation-of.html"},"modified":"2017-04-07T03:13:44","modified_gmt":"2017-04-07T03:13:44","slug":"precisely-controlled-levitation-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextbigfuture.com\/2016\/07\/precisely-controlled-levitation-of.html","title":{"rendered":"Precisely controlled levitation of nanodiamonds could bring advances in sensors, quantum information processing"},"content":{"rendered":"
Researchers have demonstrated how to control the “electron spin” of a nanodiamond while it is levitated with lasers in a vacuum, an advance that could find applications in quantum information processing, sensors and studies into the fundamental physics of quantum mechanics.<\/a><\/p>\n Electrons can be thought of as having two distinct spin states, “up” or “down.” The researchers were able to detect and control the electron spin resonance, or its change from one state to the other.<\/p>\n “We’ve shown how to continuously flip the electron spin in a nanodiamond levitated in a vacuum and in the presence of different gases,” said Tongcang Li, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy and electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University.<\/p>\n The electron spin resonance was shown to differ in the presence of helium and oxygen gases, meaning the technique could be used in a new type of sensor to detect and measure gases. Oxygen gas sensors are extensively used to monitor the oxygen concentration in automotive exhaust and in medical instruments such as anesthesia monitors and respirators. Nanodiamond-based sensors represent a potential improvement over conventional sensors.<\/p>\n “While more detailed studies are required to fully understand this phenomenon, our observation suggests a potential application for oxygen gas sensing,” Li said. The levitating nanodiamonds also could find uses in quantum information processing, experimental techniques to probe fundamental physics in quantum mechanics, and the measurement of magnetic and gravitational fields, which could be applied to computer memory and experiments to search for deviations from Newton’s law of gravitation. <\/p>\n
\nThe paper was authored by postdoctoral research associate Thai Hoang; doctoral students Jonghoon Ahn and Jaehoon Bang; and Li.<\/p>\n