eprintid: 10088288
rev_number: 19
eprint_status: archive
userid: 608
dir: disk0/10/08/82/88
datestamp: 2020-01-16 09:57:40
lastmod: 2021-01-02 23:00:41
status_changed: 2020-01-16 09:57:40
type: thesis
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Almuqhim, Anas
title: Development of levitated electromechanics of nanodiamond in a Paul trap
ispublished: unpub
divisions: UCL
divisions: A01
divisions: B04
divisions: C06
note: Copyright © The Author 2019. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request.
abstract: This thesis outlines the development of an experimental platform to explore recent theoretical proposals to create macroscopic spatial quantum superposition using a levitated nanodiamond containing nitrogen vacancy centres (NV). The work has demonstrated a method for electrodynamic levitation of nanodiamond and explored the feasibility and limitations of this system for experiments in macroscopic quantum mechanics. A range of electrical trap geometries were explored to determine their suitability for diamond levitation. A linear quadrupole trap was chosen and two different traps were designed, constructed and tested at atmospheric pressure and under vacuum. One trap was of a conventional linear Paul trap design, which was integrated with a microwave antenna as one of the electrodes for excitation of NV centres in the nanodiamond. A more cost effective trap was also designed and constructed from a printed circuit board. This design was easy to fabricate and had a larger numerical aperture for enhancing signal detection. Although not eventually used in this work it has found application in other levitation experiments in the laboratory. Most of the work in this thesis utilises a conventional linear Paul trap with integrated microwave excitation. The magnetic field strength and the energy density of the microwave field within the trap was modelled and were found to be suitable for excitation of NV centres. Using this trap we demonstrated optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) of the NV centres of diamond placed in the trap. NV fluorescence from microdiamond in this system was used to investigate the dependence of NV photoluminesence as a function of temperature, laser power and gas pressure. It was found that the temperature change not only affected the resonance frequency but also the ODMR contrast. The contrast reached its peak at about of 11.7±0.2 % at 380±35 K down to 3.2±0.2 % at 657±20 K. We demonstrated the ability to trap 100 nm diamond down to 4×10^-3 mbar and observed the NV photoluminesence at atmospheric pressure.
date: 2019-12-28
date_type: published
oa_status: green
full_text_type: other
thesis_class: doctoral_open
thesis_award: Ph.D
language: eng
thesis_view: UCL_Thesis
primo: open
primo_central: open_green
verified: verified_manual
elements_id: 1732014
lyricists_name: Almuqhim, Anas
lyricists_id: AAALM88
actors_name: Almuqhim, Anas
actors_id: AAALM88
actors_role: owner
full_text_status: public
pages: 157
event_title: UCL (University College London)
institution: UCL (University College London)
department: Physics & Astronomy
thesis_type: Doctoral
citation:        Almuqhim, Anas;      (2019)    Development of levitated electromechanics of nanodiamond in a Paul trap.                   Doctoral thesis  (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).     Green open access   
 
document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10088288/1/Anas%20Almuqhim%20-%20PhD%20thesis.pdf