Single crystal diamond pyramids for applications in nanoscale quantum sensing

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel method to fabricate single-crystalline diamond pyramids combining top-down and bottom-up techniques, enhancing nanoscale quantum sensing capabilities with improved photonic properties and probe sharpness.

Contribution

The authors develop a new fabrication process for diamond pyramids with high collection efficiency and smoothness, advancing the design of scanning probes for quantum sensing applications.

Findings

High collection efficiency from color centers near the pyramid apex

Diamond pyramids exhibit smoothness and tip radii around 10 nm

Potential for improved nanoscale imaging with diamond pyramids

Abstract

We present a new approach combining top down fabrication and bottom up overgrowth to create diamond photonic nanostructures in form of single-crystalline diamond nanopyramids. Our approach relies on diamond nanopillars, that are overgrown with single-crystalline diamond to form pyramidal structures oriented along crystal facets. To characterize the photonic properties of the pyramids, color centers are created in a controlled way using ion implantation and annealing. We find very high collection efficiency from color centers close to the pyramid apex. We further show excellent smoothness and sharpness of our diamond pyramids with measured tip radii on the order of 10 nm. Our results offer interesting prospects for nanoscale quantum sensing using diamond color centers, where our diamond pyramids could be used as scanning probes for nanoscale imaging. There, our approach would offer signifikant advantages compared to the cone-shaped scanning probes which define the current state of the art.