Optimizing synthetic diamond samples for quantum sensing technologies by tuning the growth temperature

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that adjusting the growth temperature during chemical vapor deposition can control the orientation and density of nitrogen-vacancy defects in diamond, enhancing its suitability for quantum sensing.

Contribution

It introduces a method to optimize NV defect alignment and density in diamond by tuning CVD growth temperature, advancing quantum sensing material engineering.

Findings

Lower growth temperatures improve NV defect alignment along [111]

Temperature-dependent NV incorporation enables dense, localized NV ensembles

Growth temperature is a key parameter for engineering quantum sensing diamonds

Abstract

Control of the crystalline orientation of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) defects in diamond is here demonstrated by tuning the temperature of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth on a (113)-oriented diamond substrate. We show that preferential alignment of NV defects along the [111] axis is significantly improved when the CVD growth temperature is decreased. This effect is then combined with temperature-dependent incorporation of NV defects during the CVD growth to obtain preferential alignment over dense ensembles of NV defects spatially localized in thin diamond layers. These results demonstrate that growth temperature can be exploited as an additional degree of freedom to engineer optimized diamond samples for quantum sensing applications.