Ashok Ajoy

Research Expertise and Interest

physical chemistry, nanoscale NMR spectroscopy

Research Description

Ashok Ajoy is an associate professor in the Chemistry Department.  His research interests include: Physical Chemistry — nanoscale NMR spectroscopy, targetable spin hyperpolarization agents, methods for quantum sensing and quantum computing with spins, and the chemical physics of spin transport and dynamics at the nanoscale.

Nuclear spins are ubiquitous, constituting everything around us, and are quantum objects endowed with extremely long coherence times. They do not participate in chemical reactions, but report on their local chemical environment, making them excellent reporters of chemical structure. NMR spectroscopy can probe these spins but suffer from several technical limitations.

His research is innovating a new paradigm of deployable NMR probes, with the aim of enabling NMR spectroscopy within natural sample environments. By "bringing NMR to the sample" with nanoscale spatial resolution, they harness the exquisite chemical specificity of NMR to reveal insights into reaction mechanisms in-situ.

In the News

Diamonds engage both optical microscopy and MRI for better imaging

A University of California, Berkeley, researcher has now shown that microscopic diamond tracers can provide information via MRI and optical fluorescence simultaneously, potentially allowing scientists to get high-quality images up to a centimeter below the surface of tissue, 10 times deeper than light alone.
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