A while back, I blogged about some experiments back in 2004 demonstrating detection of single spins. Now, two back to back* papers in Nature have utilized a new method for detecting single spins at room temperature. Nature also has a News and Views that discusses both papers. Both techniques utilize long spin coherence states of diamond nanocrystals with single defects, which sense changes in spin tens to hundreds of nanometers away, and can be detected optically. Optical detection is a highly desirable mechanism because of the highly developed technologies allowing reliable, low-noise detection of single photons. And, the ability to image spins at room temperature offers hope that these techniques could be used for biological studies.
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