Polarization Transfer to External Nuclear Spins Using Ensembles of Nitrogen-Vacancy Centers

Abstract

The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centre in diamond has emerged as a candidate to non-invasively hyperpolarise nuclear spins in molecular systems to improve the sensitivity of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments. Several promising proof of principle experiments have demonstrated small-scale polarisation transfer from single NVs to hydrogen spins outside the diamond. However, the scaling up of these results to the use of a dense NV ensemble, which is a necessary prerequisite for achieving realistic NMR sensitivity enhancement, has not yet been demonstrated. In this work, we present evidence for a polarising interaction between a shallow NV ensemble and external nuclear targets over a micrometre scale, and characterise the challenges in achieving useful polarisation enhancement. In the most favourable example of the interaction with hydrogen in a solid state target, a maximum polarisation transfer rate of $\approx 7500$ spins per second per NV is measured, averaged over an area containing order $10^6$ NVs. Reduced levels of polarisation efficiency are found for liquid state targets, where molecular diffusion limits the transfer. Through analysis via a theoretical model, we find that our results suggest implementation of this technique for NMR sensitivity enhancement is feasible following realistic diamond material improvements.