(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- Diamonds, it has long been said, are a girl’s best friend. But a research team including a physicist from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has recently found¹ that the gems might turn out to be a patient’s best friend as well.

The team’s work has the long-term goal of developing quantum computers, but it has borne fruit that may have more immediate application in medical science. Their discovery of a candidate “quantum bit” with great sensitivity to magnetic fields hints that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-like devices that can probe individual drug molecules and living cells may be possible.

The candidate system, formed from a nitrogen atom lodged within a diamond crystal, is promising not only because it can sense atomic-scale variations in magnetism, but also because it functions at room temperature. Most other such devices used either in quantum computation or for magnetic sensing must be cooled to nearly absolute zero to operate, making it difficult to place them near live tissue. However, using the nitrogen as a sensor or switch could sidestep that limitation.

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