Elsevier, Journal of Magnetic Resonance, 1(199), p. 25-29
DOI: 10.1016/j.jmr.2009.03.008
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Scalar couplings of the form J I_1 ⋅ I_2 between nuclei impart valuable information about molecular structure to nuclear magnetic-resonance spectra. Here we demonstrate direct detection of J-spectra due to both heteronuclear and homonuclear J-coupling in a zero-field environment where the Zeeman interaction is completely absent. We show that characteristic functional groups exhibit distinct spectra with straightforward interpretation for chemical identification. Detection is performed with a microfabricated optical atomic magnetometer, providing high sensitivity to samples of microliter volumes. We obtain 0.1 Hz linewidths and measure scalar-coupling parameters with 4-mHz statistical uncertainty. We anticipate that the technique described here will provide a new modality for high-precision "J spectroscopy" using small samples on microchip devices for multiplexed screening, assaying, and sample identification in chemistry and biomedicine. ; Comment: 15 pages, 4 Figures