Quantum relaxometry for detecting biomolecular interactions with single NV centers
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Quantum Physics arXiv:2512.10269 (quant-ph) [Submitted on 11 Dec 2025] Title:Quantum relaxometry for detecting biomolecular interactions with single NV centers Authors:Min Li, Qi Zhang, Xi Kong, Sheng Zhao, Bin-Bin Pan, Ziting Sun, Pei Yu, Zhecheng Wang, Mengqi Wang, Wentao Ji, Fei Kong, Guanglei Cheng, Si Wu, Ya Wang, Sanyou Chen, Xun-Cheng Su, Fazhan Shi View a PDF of the paper titled Quantum relaxometry for detecting biomolecular interactions with single NV centers, by Min Li and 16 other authors View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract:The investigation of biomolecular interactions at the single-molecule level has emerged as a pivotal research area in life science, particularly through optical, mechanical, and electrochemical approaches. Spins existing widely in biological systems, offer a unique degree of freedom for detecting such interactions. However, most previous studies have been largely confined to ensemble-level detection in the spin degree. Here, we developed a molecular interaction analysis method approaching single-molecule level based on relaxometry using the quantum sensor, nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond. Experiments utilized an optimized diamond surface functionalized with a polyethylenimine nanogel layer, achieving $\sim$10 nm average protein distance and mitigating interfacial steric hindrance. Then we measured the strong interaction between streptavidin and spin-labeled biotin complexes, as well as the weak interaction between bovine serum albumin and biotin complexes, at both the micrometer scale and nanoscale. For the micrometer-scale measurements using ensemble NV centers, we re-examined the often-neglected fast relaxation component and proposed a relaxation rate evaluation method, substantially enhancing the measurement sensitivity. Furthermore, we achieved nanoscale detection approaching single-molecule level using single NV centers. This methodology holds promise for applications in molecular screening, identification and kinetic studies at the single-molecule level, offering critical insights into molecular function and activity mechanisms. Comments: Subjects: Quantum Physics (quant-ph); Biological Physics (physics.bio-ph) Cite as: arXiv:2512.10269 [quant-ph] (or arXiv:2512.10269v1 [quant-ph] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2512.10269 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite Journal reference: PNAS 122 (35) e2509102122 (2025) Related DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2509102122 Focus to learn more DOI(s) linking to related resources Submission history From: Fazhan Shi [view email] [v1] Thu, 11 Dec 2025 04:15:41 UTC (6,492 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View a PDF of the paper titled Quantum relaxometry for detecting biomolecular interactions with single NV centers, by Min Li and 16 other authorsView PDFHTML (experimental)TeX Source view license Current browse context: quant-ph new | recent | 2025-12 Change to browse by: physics physics.bio-ph References & Citations INSPIRE HEP NASA ADSGoogle Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Loading... BibTeX formatted citation × loading... Data provided by: Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv (What is alphaXiv?) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub (What is DagsHub?) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face (What is Huggingface?) Links to Code Toggle Papers with Code (What is Papers with Code?) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate (What is Replicate?) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces (What is Spaces?) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI (What is TXYZ.AI?) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender (What is CORE?) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs. Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax (What is MathJax?)