MaGNiFi stands for "Nuclear Magnetic resonance auGmented by Nitrogen-vacancy centres and Field versatility"

The key goals of the MaGNiFi project are: a) training of Dr. Ruben Pellicer-Guridi in the fast-growing field of quantum information based scientific instrumentation and b) the design and development of a novel diamond enhanced Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) device.

The vision of a new class of NMR

NMR devices are central actors in medicine, chemistry and physics. These have become the gold standard for an ever-increasing number of applications and are routinely used to generate high-contrast images non-invasively and to identify complex chemical structures and dynamics via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and NMR spectroscopy. Yet, NMR suffers of low sensitivity because its signal is very small and, hence, difficult to detect. This reduces its capacity to sense, for example, many relevant biomolecules that exist in small absolute quantities or concentrations, such as metabolites that could reveal early cancer or brain degeneration. To mitigate this problem, NMR methods employing Nitrogen Vacancy (NV) centres in nanodiamonds have been proposed. These methods conform an NV based NMR (NV NMR) technique that can enhance the sensitivity to the signal by increasing the nuclear magnetic polarisation in samples.

What does MaGNiFi consist of

This action would generate innovative hardware and more efficient acquisition protocols, which together form a pragmatic high-performance device. The system will consume a fraction of the power of existing NMR setups. The device will not induce mechanical stress or agitation on the sample increasing acquisition reproducibility, which will facilitate studies that require more than one acquisition such as multidimensional NMR, single cell MRI, or NMR of molecular dynamics. Its small footprint will make it portable and it will cost a fraction of existing NMR setups. Designed pulse sequences enabled by this unprecedented external field versatility would be more efficient achieving faster polarisation and higher sensitivity at high resolution enabling the study of demanded NV NMR applications.

MaGNiFi has been possible thanks to:

Quantum Nanophotonics Lab

The research program of the “Quantum Nanophotonics Laboratory” group aims at contributing to the development of hybrid quantum devices based on the interaction of light and matter at the nanoscale.

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Materials Physics Centre

CFM is a research centre devoted to promote cutting-edge fundamental research on advanced materials, as well as to create new cohorts of highly skilled scientists who can face the challenges of excellence in research of materials science.

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NQUIRE

The group “Quantum designs and nanoscale technologies” led by Dr. Jorge Casanova is a young group that explores applications of quantum technologies in areas ranging from material science and nuclear physics, to biochemistry and medical imaging.

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Marie Skłodowska Curie Action

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions fund the development of excellent doctoral and postdoctoral training programmes and collaborative research projects. They achieve a structuring impact on higher education institutions, research centres and other organisations way beyond academia by widely spreading excellence and setting standards for high-quality researcher education and training.

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