Patterned Formation of Highly Coherent Nitrogen-Vacancy Centers Using a Focused Electron Irradiation Technique

McLellan, Claire A.; Myers, Bryan; Kräemer, Stephan; Ohno, Kenichi; Awschalom, D. D.; Jayich, Ania

doi:10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b05304

Cited by 113 publications

(137 citation statements)

References 33 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

124

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The nanopillar spacing ( ≳ 250 nm) is such that quantum sensing can be performed on the single NV centers in each simultaneously using diffraction-limited wide-field optical detection and microwave control. Nanopillar arrays of this kind could be fabricated by combining existing diamond etching 27 and high resolution NV creation [31][32][33] force vector image will have a spatial resolution defined by the size of the superpixels (ie. ≳500 nm), and using our previous estimates, will achieve a force resolution of 100 pN after ~1 s of measurement time.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Nanomechanical Sensing Using Spins in Diamond

et al. 2017

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

KEYWORDSNitrogen-vacancy center, diamond, spin-mechanical interaction, nanomechancial sensing, NEMS 2 ABSTRACT Nanomechanical sensors and quantum nanosensors are two rapidly developing technologies that have diverse interdisciplinary applications in biological and chemical analysis and microscopy.For example, nanomechanical sensors based upon nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) have demonstrated chip-scale mass spectrometry capable of detecting single macromolecules, such as proteins. Quantum nanosensors based upon electron spins of negatively-charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond have demonstrated diverse modes of nanometrology, including single molecule magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Here, we report the first step towards combining these two complementary technologies in the form of diamond nanomechanical structures containing NV centers. We establish the principles for nanomechanical sensing using such nano-spinmechanical sensors (NSMS) and assess their potential for mass spectrometry and force microscopy. We predict that NSMS are able to provide unprecedented AC force images of cellular biomechanics and to, not only detect the mass of a single macromolecule, but also image its distribution. When combined with the other nanometrology modes of the NV center, NSMS potentially offer unparalleled analytical power at the nanoscale. TEXTNanomechanical sensors based upon nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) are a burgeoning nanotechnology with diverse microscopy and analytical applications in biology and chemistry. Two applications with particular promise are force microscopy in geometries that transcend the constraints of conventional atomic force microscopy (AFM) 1-3 and on-chip mass spectrometry with single molecule sensitivity. [4][5][6] Another burgeoning nanotechnology is quantum nanosensors based upon the electron spin of the NV center in diamond. The NV center has been 3 used to locate single elementary charges, 7 to perform thermometry within living cells 8 and to realize nanoscale MRI in ambient conditions. 9-11 However, there is yet to be a nanosensing application of the NV center that exploits its susceptibility to local mechanical stress/ strain.Here, we propose that the mechanical susceptibility of the NV center's electron spin can be exploited together with the extreme mechanical properties of diamond nanomechanical structures to realize nano-spin-mechanical sensors (NSMS) that outperform the best available technology. Such NSMS will be capable of both high-sensitivity nanomechanical sensing and the quantum nanosensing of electric fields, magnetic fields and temperature. NSMS will thereby constitute the unification of two burgeoning nanotechnologies and have the potential to perform such unparalleled analytical feats as mass-spectrometry and MRI of single molecules. As the first step towards realizing NSMS, we report the complete characterization of the spin-mechanical interaction of the NV center. We use this to establish the design and operating principles of diamond NSMS and to perfor...

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Nanomechanical Sensing Using Spins in Diamond

et al. 2017

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As a result, in most cases it would be beneficial to increase the concentration of NV centers while keeping the nitrogen concentration constant, i.e. improve the N to NV conversion efficiency.A common technique for improving the conversion efficiency is the irradiation of the sample with electrons [16][17][18], protons [19], or ions [20], which creates vacancies in the lattice. Additional annealing mobilizes the vacancies, thus increasing their probability of occupying lattice sites adjacent to isolated nitrogens and forming stable NV centers.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Improved conversion efficiencies through TEM irradiation at ∼ 200 keV were previously demonstrated in highpressure-high-temperature (HPHT) [17] and delta doped arXiv:1702.05332v3 [quant-ph] 19 Aug 2017 [18] samples. It is necessary to extend these results, and study the effect of irradiation on samples that are more relevant to ongoing research: chemical vapor deposition (CVD), with as grown and implanted NVs, for which the improvement of conversion efficiencies is not trivial.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhanced concentrations of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond through TEM irradiation

Farfurnik

Alfasi

Masis

et al. 2017

Applied Physics Letters

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The studies of many-body dynamics of interacting spin ensembles, as well as quantum sensing in solid state systems, are often limited by the need for high spin concentrations, along with efficient decoupling of the spin ensemble from its environment. In particular, for an ensemble of nitrogenvacancy (NV) centers in diamond, high conversion efficiencies between nitrogen (P1) defects and NV centers are essential, while maintaining long coherence times of an NV ensemble. In this work, we study the effect of electron irradiation on the conversion efficiency and the coherence time of various types of diamond samples with different initial nitrogen concentrations. The samples were irradiated using a 200 keV transmission electron microscope (TEM). Our study reveals that the efficiency of NV creation strongly depends on the initial conversion efficiency as well as on the initial nitrogen concentration. The irradiation of the examined samples exhibits an order of magnitude improvement in the NV concentration (up to ∼ 10 11 NV/cm 2 ), without degradation in their coherence times of ∼ 180 µs. We address the potential of this technique toward the study of many-body physics of NV ensembles and the creation of non-classical spin states for quantum sensing. The study of quantum many-body spin physics in realistic solid-state platforms has been a long-standing goal in quantum and condensed-matter physics. In addition to the fundamental understanding of spin dynamics, such research could pave the way toward the demonstration of non-classical spin states, which will be useful for a variety of applications in quantum information and quantum sensing. One of the leading candidates for such studies is the negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond, having unique spin and optical properties, which make it useful for various sensing applications [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9], as well as a resource for quantum information processing and quantum simulation [10][11][12].The current state-of-the-art is limited by the requirement of obtaining high spin concentrations while maintaining long coherence times. The sensitivity of magnetic sensing grows as the square-root of the number of spins [1,3], thus enhanced NV concentrations could improve magnetometric sensitivities. Furthermore, enhanced NV concentrations could lead to strong NV-NV couplings, which together with long coherence times, achieved using a proper dynamical decoupling protocol [13], could pave the way toward the study of many-body dynamics in the NV-NV interaction-dominated regime [10][11][12]. However, nitrogen defects not associated with vacancies (P1 centers) create randomly fluctuating magnetic fields that cause decoherence of the quantum state of the NV ensemble [14,15]. As a result, in most cases it would be beneficial to increase the concentration of NV centers while keeping the nitrogen concentration constant, i.e. improve the N to NV conversion efficiency.A common technique for improving the conversion efficiency is the irradiation of the sample with elec...

show abstract

“…Changing the N 2 flow tunes the resulting N densities. In order to decrease the magnetic noise, diamond growth can be performed using isotopically-purified 12 CH 4 as the carbon source [47,49,50]. Very recently, overgrowth of a nitrogen-terminated diamond surface has been employed for δ-doping [51].…”

Section: Creation Methods and Creation Yieldmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Very recently, overgrowth of a nitrogen-terminated diamond surface has been employed for δ-doping [51]. -Vacancies are created ex situ by implanting helium ions [52,53], carbon ions [49] or irradiating with electrons [47,50]. A subsequent annealing at high temperature causes vacancy diffusion and creates NV centers (Figure 2c).…”

Section: Creation Methods and Creation Yieldmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nanoscale Sensing Using Point Defects in Single-Crystal Diamond: Recent Progress on Nitrogen Vacancy Center-Based Sensors

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Individual, luminescent point defects in solids, so-called color centers, are atomic-sized quantum systems enabling sensing and imaging with nanoscale spatial resolution. In this overview, we introduce nanoscale sensing based on individual nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in diamond. We discuss two central challenges of the field: first, the creation of highly-coherent, shallow NV centers less than 10 nm below the surface of a single-crystal diamond; second, the fabrication of tip-like photonic nanostructures that enable efficient fluorescence collection and can be used for scanning probe imaging based on color centers with nanoscale resolution.

show abstract

Patterned Formation of Highly Coherent Nitrogen-Vacancy Centers Using a Focused Electron Irradiation Technique

Cited by 113 publications

References 33 publications

Nanomechanical Sensing Using Spins in Diamond

Nanomechanical Sensing Using Spins in Diamond

Enhanced concentrations of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond through TEM irradiation

Nanoscale Sensing Using Point Defects in Single-Crystal Diamond: Recent Progress on Nitrogen Vacancy Center-Based Sensors

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About