Having a universal platform for imaging <i>individual </i>biomolecules with isotopic specificity and nanometer or sub-nanometer resolution would be an enabling advance. By detecting magnetic resonance mechanically, as a force on an attonewton sensitivity microcantilever, magnetic resonance force microscopy offers the sensitivity required for three-dimensional, nanoscale magnetic resonance imaging. Exciting advances in mechanically detected magnetic resonance include the &lt; 10 nm viral imaging experiment of Degen <i>et al</i>.1 and nanomagnet tipped cantilevers developed by Longenecker and Marohn2 that demonstrated a sensitivity of a few hundred proton magnetic moments. Furthermore, Moore and coworkers3 proposed and demonstrated a method for mechanically detecting electron spin resonance from nitroxide spin labels. We report our efforts to combine these advances, while decreasing signal acquisition time, to achieve force-detected single-molecule imaging by (1) using nitroxide radicals as a polarizing agent for imaging hyperpolarized nuclear spins with &lt; 10 nm resolution or (2) detecting individual nitroxide spin labels attached to proteins and nucleic acids directly with angstrom resolution. I will discuss the design and integration of coplanar waveguides operating on 200 mW of power to generate millitesla strength magnetic fields from radiofrequency up to 40 GHz. These coplanar waveguides enabled the simultaneous detection of electron spin resonance and nuclear magnetic resonance in a single scanned-probe microscope experiment for the first time.4 Using dynamic nuclear polarization, we demonstrate the detection of hyperpolarized proton magnetic resonance in a nitroxide-doped polystyrene thin film. I will further discuss our work toward detecting and imaging a single electron spin on a nitroxide-labelled biomolecule.

Harnessing electron spin labels for single-molecule magnetic resonance imaging

254th National Meeting (2017)

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