Search

The sensitivity of the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color centers in diamond-based magnetometers strongly depends on the number of NV centers involved in the measurement. Unfortunately, an increasing concentration of NV centers leads to a decrease in their dephasing and coherence times if the nitrogen content exceeds a certain threshold level (approximately 10 17 c m - 3 or 0.6 ppm). Here, we demonstrate that this increased dephasing can be efficiently compensated for by optimizing the electron irradiation dose in postprocessing procedures in the vicinity of the threshold concentration, thus extending the range of possible useful concentrations of NV centers in diamonds with a natural carbon content.

Properties of silicon-vacancy (SiV) colour centres in ultra-nanosize diamonds are studied. Nanodiamonds are obtained at a high temperature and pressure, which induced transformations in mixtures of organic and hetero-organic compounds without metal-catalysts. The size distribution of grown nanodiamonds is determined by the methods of transmission electron microscopy and atomic-force microscopy, as well as by using the model of phonon spatial localisation. In addition, Raman spectra of various nanodiamonds and luminescence properties of SiV-centres are investigated.

The possibility of controlled creation of NV centers at any given depth have a substantial potential for quantum information processing and sensor applications. Here we report on creation of localized NV centers using nitrogen delta doping during a chemical vapor deposition diamond growth process. Using confocal microscopy, we investigated optical properties of as grown NV centers in delta-doped layer, demonstrated availability of isolated space clusters of color centers in the layer, analyzed space distribution of these clusters, and using seconds-order correlation function measurements demonstrated that clusters contain from one to few color centers.

In this work, we study the optical properties of NV centers in detonation nanodiamonds and SiV centers in HPHT nanodiamonds with the size about 10 nm. We experimentally measure the size of nanodiamonds with color centers on the substrate. We demonstrate that detonation nanodiamonds have tendency to aggregate, whereas HPHT diamond may lay as single digit crystals. In despite of the aggregation and ultrasmall size, these nanodiamonds still contain bright single color center with antibunching photon statistics.

International audience; Ultrasmall (about 10 nm), low-strain, artificially produced diamonds with an internal, active color center have substantial potential for quantum information processing and biomedical applications. Thus, it is of great importance to be able to artificially produce such diamonds. Here, we report on the high-pressure, high-temperature synthesis of such nanodiamonds about 10 nm in size and containing an optically active, single silicon-vacancy color center. Using special sample preparation technique, we were able to prepare samples containing single nanodiamonds on the surface. By correlating atomic-force microscope images and confocal optical images, we verified the presence of optically active color centers in single nanocrystals, and using second-order correlation measurements, we proved the single-photon emission statistics of these nanodiamonds. These color centers have nonblinking, spectrally narrow emission with narrow distribution of spectral width and positions of zero-phonon line, thus proving the high quality of the nanodiamonds produced.

In this paper, we realize growth of the delta doped layer (3 nm thick) with high concentration of nitrogen atoms (about 1.4 × 1019 cm−3) during CVD diamond growth process. We experimentally investigate the distribution of the nitrogen inside the grown layer and formation of the NV centers during such growth. Using confocal microscopy, we analyze the spatial distribution of the NV centers and investigate the formation efficiency of the NV centers in delta doped layers. The spatial distribution is measured by two methods, using second-order correlation function and emission volume analysis, and NV center concentration is found to be 3.9 ± 0.6 and 2.7 ± 0.2 μm-2 consequently. The divergence between the methods is discussed. As-grown NV centers formation efficiency was found to be 30 times lower than in the case of uniform doped diamond growth. Nevertheless, coherence time of an electron spin for a single NV center inside the delta layer was found to be around 1 μs which is quite reasonable given the concentration of the nitrogen in the sample.

The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond has been found to be a powerful tool for various sensing applications. In particular, in ensemble-based sensors, the main ``workhorse'' so far has been optically detected electron resonance. Utilization of the nuclear spin has the potential to significantly improve sensitivity in rotation and magnetic field sensors. Ensemble-based sensors consume a substantial amount of power, leading to noticeable heating of the diamond and thus requiring an understanding of temperature-related shifts. In this paper, we provide a detailed study of the temperature shift of the hyperfine components of the NV center.

Quickly developing application of nitrogen-vacancy color centers in diamond sets demands on cheap and high optical and spin properties nanodiamonds. Among other types, detonation nanodiamonds are easiest for production but often show no NV color centers inside. In this work we show, that aggregates of detonation nanodiamonds could be as good, or even better in terms of brightness and spin properties, than more expensive single crystal nanodiamonds. This way aggregates of detonation nanodiamonds could efficiently serve as cheap and bright source of single photon radiation or sensitive element of biocompatible sensor.

In this paper, we experimentally investigate optical and spin properties of NV centers in aggregates of detonation nanodiamonds. We show that despite the small size of nanodiamonds forming the aggregate, the NV centers in these aggregates exhibit spin properties comparable to similar size nanodiamonds grown by other methods, but with brightness enhanced by a factor of 2.