Summary:

Magnetic resonance signal is detected via displacement detection of a micromechanical cantilever. Usually, this is done by means of fiber-optical laser interferometry. However, in many systems, laser light disrupts magnetic resonance signal. At The Ohio State University, we are the first to implement MRFM with light-free capacitive displacement readout that can perform subsurface imaging on a nanometer scale.

Potential Applications:

• Solid state quantum computer
• Semiconducting devices
• It can detect a range of magnetic resonance phenomena (EPR, NMR, FMR) making it applicable to various physical systems

Advantages:

• The depth of probing can measure to the nanometer scale to image molecules.
• Improved sensitivity could exceed optical techniques
• Capacitive detection will eventually replace optical detection
• There is no laser light to disrupt the magnetic resonance signal
• Displacement detection is integrated into the device allowing it to be fabricated at the same time making it enabling for parallelization