A solution to electric-field screening in diamond quantum electrometers

TL;DR

This paper presents a theoretical model of electric-field screening in diamond quantum electrometers and proposes a solution involving controlled nitrogen doping and surface termination to enable external charge detection.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive model explaining charge screening and quenching in diamond electrometers and suggests a practical approach to overcome these limitations.

Findings

Screening and quenching limit external charge detection in diamond electrometers.

Controlled nitrogen doping and fluorine-terminated surfaces can mitigate screening effects.

Further surface engineering is necessary for effective external charge sensing.

Abstract

There are diverse interdisciplinary applications for nanoscale resolution electrometry of elementary charges under ambient conditions. These include characterization of 2D electronics, charge transfer in biological systems, and measurement of fundamental physical phenomena. The nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond is uniquely capable of such measurements, however electrometry thus far has been limited to charges within the same diamond lattice. It has been hypothesized that the failure to detect charges external to diamond is due to quenching and surface screening, but no proof, model, or design to overcome this has yet been proposed. In this work we affirm this hypothesis through a comprehensive theoretical model of screening and quenching within a diamond electrometer and propose a solution using controlled nitrogen doping and a fluorine-terminated surface. We conclude that successful implementation requires further work to engineer diamond surfaces with lower surface defect concentrations.