Manipulation and Detection of Electron Spins by Magnetic Resonance Force Microscopy

Magnetic resonance force microscopy is a technique aimed at achieving three-dimensional sub-surface imaging with atomic resolution. We discuss recent progress in using ultrasensitive force detection techniques to detect small ensembles of electron spins in SiO2. Using mass-loaded cantilevers that suppress thermal vibration noise in the upper modes, we have achieved a sensitivity of equivalent to about 2 electron spins in the natural bandwidth of the measurement (0.12 Hz).