High-quality nanostructured diamond membranes for nanoscale quantum sensing

TL;DR

This paper presents a fabrication method for low-damage nanostructured diamond membranes that preserve NV center properties for quantum sensing, along with a transfer technique for integration with various targets.

Contribution

It introduces a novel low-damage fabrication process for diamond membranes and a pick-and-place transfer method for versatile quantum sensor integration.

Findings

Preserves optical and spin properties of shallow NV centers

Enables significant photonic enhancement

Facilitates integration with diverse sensing targets

Abstract

Deploying nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in diamond as nanoscale quantum sensors for condensed matter and materials physics requires placing the NV centers close to the sensing target. One solution is to fabricate diamond nanostructures and integrate them with materials and devices. However, diamond etching and ion milling can introduce subsurface damage and surface defects that degrade the charge stability and spin coherence of NV centers near the surface. Here we report a procedure for fabricating low-damage nanostructured diamond membranes, and we show that this fabrication scheme preserves the optical and spin properties of state-of-the-art shallow NV center quantum sensors, within nanometers of the diamond surface, while providing significant photonic enhancement. Furthermore, we demonstrate a pick-and-place transfer method, which enables integration with diverse sensing targets.