Nanopositioning of a diamond nanocrystal containing a single NV defect center

TL;DR

This paper presents a high-precision nanomanipulation technique for positioning single diamond nanocrystals with NV centers, maintaining their quantum properties, which advances quantum science and nanotechnology applications.

Contribution

A novel nanomanipulation method using real-time SEM imaging achieves nanometer accuracy in positioning single NV centers in diamond nanocrystals, preserving their quantum properties.

Findings

Positioning accuracy of a few nanometers achieved.

NV center properties remain intact after manipulation.

Technique enables precise placement for quantum experiments.

Abstract

Precise control over the position of a single quantum object is important for many experiments in quantum science and nanotechnology. We report on a technique for high-accuracy positioning of individual diamond nanocrystals. The positioning is done with a home-built nanomanipulator under real-time scanning electron imaging, yielding an accuracy of a few nanometers. This technique is applied to pick up, move and position a single NV defect center contained in a diamond nanocrystal. We verify that the unique optical and spin properties of the NV center are conserved by the positioning process.