Publications by authors named "Szymon Pustelny"

Zero and ultralow-field nuclear magnetic resonance (ZULF NMR) is an NMR modality where experiments are performed in fields at which spin-spin interactions within molecules and materials are stronger than Zeeman interactions. This typically occurs at external fields of microtesla strength or below, considerably smaller than Earth's field. In ZULF NMR, the measurement of spin-spin couplings and spin relaxation rates provides a nondestructive means for identifying chemicals and chemical fragments, and for conducting sample or process analyses.

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Axion-like particles (ALPs) arise from well-motivated extensions to the Standard Model and could account for dark matter. ALP dark matter would manifest as a field oscillating at an (as of yet) unknown frequency. The frequency depends linearly on the ALP mass and plausibly ranges from 10 to 10 eV/c.

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Precise magnetometry is vital in numerous scientific and technological applications. At the forefront of sensitivity, optical atomic magnetometry, particularly techniques utilizing nonlinear magneto-optical rotation (NMOR), enables ultraprecise measurements across a broad field range. Despite their potential, these techniques reportedly lose sensitivity in higher magnetic fields, which is attributed to the alignment-to-orientation conversion (AOC) process.

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Superluminal light propagation is typically accompanied by significant absorption that might prevent its observation in realistic samples. We propose an all-optical implementation exploiting the two-photon resonance in three-level media to overcome this problem. With several computational methods, we analyze three possible configurations of optically-dressed systems and identify an optimal configuration for superluminal propagation.

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Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) relaxometry is an analytical method that provides information about molecular environments, even for NMR "silent" molecules (spin-0), by analyzing the properties of NMR signals versus the magnitude of the longitudinal field. Conventionally, this technique is performed at fields much higher than Earth's magnetic field, but our work focuses on NMR relaxometry at zero and ultra-low magnetic fields (ZULFs). Operating under such conditions allows us to investigate slow (bio)chemical processes occurring on a timescale from milliseconds to seconds, which coincide with spin evolution.

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Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a powerful analytical tool used in modern science and technology. Its novel incarnation, based on measurements of NMR signals without external magnetic fields, provides direct access to intramolecular interactions based on heteronuclear scalar J-coupling. The uniqueness of these interactions makes each zero-field NMR spectrum distinct and useful in chemical fingerprinting.

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Searches for pseudo-magnetic spin couplings require implementation of techniques capable of sensitive detection of such interactions. While Spin-Exchange Relaxation Free (SERF) magnetometry is one of the most powerful approaches enabling the searches, it suffers from a strong magnetic coupling, deteriorating the pseudo-magnetic coupling sensitivity. To address this problem, here, we compare, via numerical simulations, the performance of SERF magnetometer and noble-gas-alkali-metal co-magnetometer, operating in a so-called self-compensating regime.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Ultralight bosons like axion-like particles are considered strong contenders for dark matter and can create stable structures called topological defects that cluster dark matter in small areas throughout the galaxy.
  • - The study utilized a global network of optical magnetometers to search for transient signals from domain walls created by these axion-like particles.
  • - After analyzing a month of data, the researchers found no significant signals, which helps to limit the theoretical possibilities of dark matter involving these particles.
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Well-resolved and information-rich -spectra are the foundation for chemical detection in zero-field NMR. However, even for relatively small molecules, spectra exhibit complexity, hindering the analysis. To address this problem, we investigate an example biomolecule with a complex -coupling network─urea, a key metabolite in protein catabolism─and demonstrate ways of simplifying its zero-field spectra by modifying spin topology.

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Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a well-established analytical technique used to study chemicals and their transformations. However, high-field NMR spectroscopy necessitates advanced infrastructure, and even cryogen-free benchtop NMR spectrometers cannot be readily assembled from commercially available components. We demonstrate construction of a portable zero-field NMR spectrometer employing a commercially available magnetometer and investigate its applications in analytical chemistry.

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Organophosphorus compounds are a wide and diverse class of chemicals playing a crucial role in living organisms. This aspect has been often investigated using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), which provides information about molecular structure and function. In this paper, we report the results of theoretical and experimental studies on basic organophosphorus compounds using zero-field NMR, where spin dynamics are investigated in the absence of a magnetic field with the dominant heteronuclear -coupling.

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In this article, operation of optical magnetometers detecting static (DC) and oscillating (AC) magnetic fields is studied and comparison of the devices is performed. To facilitate the comparison, the analysis is carried out in the same experimental setup, exploiting nonlinear magneto-optical rotation. In such a system, a control over static-field magnitude or oscillating-field frequency provides detection of strength of the DC or AC fields.

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We review experimental techniques in our laboratory for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in zero and ultralow magnetic field (below 0.1 μT) where detection is based on a low-cost, non-cryogenic, spin-exchange relaxation free Rb atomic magnetometer. The typical sensitivity is 20-30 fT/Hz for signal frequencies below 1 kHz and NMR linewidths range from Hz all the way down to tens of mHz.

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Light shifts are an important source of noise and systematics in optically pumped magnetometers. We demonstrate that the long spin-coherence time in paraffin-coated cells leads to spatial averaging of the vector light shift over the entire cell volume. This renders the averaged vector light shift independent, under certain approximations, of the light-intensity distribution within the sensor cell.

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We report on the absorption measurements of the liquid-filled pure-silica microstructured optical fibers. The measurements concentrate on spectroscopic analysis of the water solutions of a cationic dye, oxazine 725 perchlorate which, when filling the fiber, demonstrates much stronger absorption signals than observed in bulk with regular cuvettes. The effect is also seen in another cationic dye, but not in anionic dyes.

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