Scheme for Detection of Single-Molecule Radical Pair Reaction Using Spin in Diamond

2016/11/30 by Haibin Liu, Martin B. Plenio, Jianming Cai
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic physics #Carbon Nanotubes in Composites #Chemical physics #Diamond #Diamond and Carbon-based Materials Research #Materials science #Mechanical and Optical Resonators #Molecular physics #Molecule #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Spin (aerodynamics) #Thermodynamics #quant-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.118.200402

published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 200402 (2017)

openalex publication_date 2017/05/19 · arxiv created 2017/05/29 · arxiv updated 2017/05/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

The radical pair reaction underlies the magnetic field sensitivity of chemical reactions and is suggested to play an important role in both chemistry and biology. Current experimental evidence is based on ensemble measurements; however, the ability to probe the radical pair reaction at the single-molecule level would provide valuable information concerning its role in important biological processes. Here, we propose a scheme to detect the charge recombination rate in a radical pair reaction under ambient conditions by using single nitrogen-vacancy center spin in diamond. We demonstrate theoretically that it is possible to detect the effect of the geomagnetic field on the radical pair reaction and propose the present scheme as a possible hybrid model chemical compass.

Citations

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