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Enhanced sensitivity in microscale high-field NMR via nuclear-spin locking with N-V centers

Oliver T. Whaites1,2,*, Jaime García Oliván1,2, and Jorge Casanova1,2

  • *Contact author: oliverthomas.whaites@ehu.eus
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Phys. Rev. Applied 25, 014062 – Published 27 January, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/m4vq-rgrn

Abstract

Solid-state defects such as nitrogen-vacancy (N-V) centers in diamond have been utilized for NMR sensing at ambient temperatures for samples at the nanoscale and up to the microscale. Similar to standard NMR, N-V-sensitivities can be increased using tesla-valued magnetic fields to boost nuclear thermal polarization, while structural parameters, such as chemical shifts, are also enhanced. However, with standard microwave- (MW) based sensing techniques, N-V centers struggle to track fast megahertz Larmor frequencies encountered in high-field scenarios. Previous protocols have addressed this by mapping target NMR parameters to the signal amplitude rather than the frequency, using a mediating radio-frequency field. Although successful, protocol sensitivities are limited by the coherence time (T2∗) of the NMR signal owing to the presence of stages where the sample magnetization freely evolves. In this work, we propose extending this coherence time, and consequently improving sensitivity, via amplitude encoding with weak nuclear-spin locking instead of free evolution, thereby taking advantage of the longer sample coherence times (T1ρ). We demonstrate that this can enhance protocol sensitivities by a factor of ≳4.

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Phys. Rev. Applied 25, 014062– Published 27 January, 2026
  • Received 12 April 2025
  • Revised 16 July 2025
  • Accepted 26 November 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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