Type II Si clathrate is a Si-based, crystalline alternative to diamond silicon with interesting optoelectronic properties. Here, a pulsed electron paramagnetic resonance study of the spin dynamics of sodium-doped, type II NaxSi136 silicon clathrate films is reported. Focusing on the hyperfine lines of isolated Na atoms, the temperature dependence of the electron spin dynamics is examined from 6 to 25 K. The measurements exhibit multi-exponential decay, indicating multiple spin relaxation rates in the system. As expected, spin relaxation time (T1) increases rapidly with decreasing temperature, reaching ∼300 μs at 6.4 K. The phase memory (TM) shows less temperature dependence with a value of ∼3 μs at the same temperature. The temperature dependence of T1 exhibits Arrhenius behavior in the measurement range consistent with an Orbach pathway. There are strong similarities to the spin behavior of other defect donors in diamond silicon. The results provide insights into the potential of Si clathrates for spin-based applications.
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Nuclear quadrupole resonance spectroscopy with a femtotesla diamond magnetometer
Radio frequency (RF) magnetometers based on nitrogen vacancy centers in diamond are predicted to offer femtotesla sensitivity, but previous experiments were limited to the picotesla level. We demonstrate a femtotesla RF magnetometer using a diamond membrane inserted between ferrite flux concentrators. The device provides ~300-fold amplitude enhancement for RF magnetic fields from 70 kHz to 3.6 MHz, and the sensitivity reaches ~70 fT√s at 0.35 MHz. The sensor detected the 3.6-MHz nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) of room-temperature sodium nitrite powder. The sensor’s recovery time after an RF pulse is ~35 μs, limited by the excitation coil’s ring-down time. The sodium-nitrite NQR frequency shifts with temperature as −1.00±0.02 kHz/K, the magnetization dephasing time isT2*=887±51 μs, and multipulse sequences extend the signal lifetime to 332±23 ms, all consistent with coil-based studies. Our results expand the sensitivity frontier of diamond magnetometers to the femtotesla range, with potential applications in security, medical imaging, and materials science.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1945148
- PAR ID:
- 10497387
- Publisher / Repository:
- AAAS Science Advances
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Science Advances
- Volume:
- 9
- Issue:
- 24
- ISSN:
- 2375-2548
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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