title: NMR spectroscopy with force-gradient detection on a GaAs epitaxial layer.
abstract: We demonstrate nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy on 35 μm(3) of (69)Ga in a GaAs epitaxial layer in vacuum at 5K, and 5T yielding a linewidth on the order of 10 kHz. This was achieved by a force-gradient magnetic resonance detection scheme, using the interaction between the force-gradient of a Ni sphere-tipped single crystal Si cantilever and the nuclear spins to register changes in the spin state as a change in the driven cantilever's natural resonant frequency. The dichotomy between the background magnetic field (B0) homogeneity requirements imposed by NMR spectroscopy and the magnetic particle's large magnetic field gradient is resolved via sample shuttling during the NMR pulse encoding. A GaAs sample is polarized in a B0 of 5T for 3 T1. The sample is shuttled away from the magnetic particle to a region of negligible magnetic field inhomogeneity. A (π/2)x pulse rotates the polarization to the xy-plane, the magnetization is allowed to precess for 2-200 μs before a (π/2)x or (π/2)y pulse stores the remaining spin along the z-axis that represents a single point of the free induction decay (FID). The sample is shuttled back to the established tip-sample distance. An adiabatic rapid passage (ARP) sweep inverts the spins in a volume of interest, causing the cantilever's natural resonance frequency to shift an amount proportional to the spin polarization in the volume. By varying the delay between the first and second (π/2) pulses the entire FID is measured.
authors: US Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi, MD 20783, USA. Electronic address: dimitri.alexson.ctr@mail.mil.
authors: Dimitri A
authors: DA
authors: Alexson
authors: Doran D
authors: DD
authors: Smith
keywords: Force-gradient detected NMR; GaAs; MRFM; NMR microscopy