Effects of low energy electron irradiation on formation of nitrogen-vacancy centers in single-crystal diamond

Exposure to beams of low energy electrons (2 to 30 keV) in a scanning electron microscope locally induces formation of NV-centers without thermal annealing in diamonds that have been implanted with nitrogen ions. We find that non-thermal, electron beam induced NV-formation is about four times less efficient than thermal annealing. But NV-center formation in a consecutive thermal annealing step (800C) following exposure to low energy electrons increases by a factor of up to 1.8 compared to thermal annealing alone. These observations point to reconstruction of nitrogen-vacancy complexes induced by electronic excitations from low energy electrons as an NV-center formation mechanism and identify local electronic excitations as a means for spatially controlled room-temperature NV-center formation

Optical determination and magnetic manipulation of single nitrogen-vacancy color center in diamond nanocrystal

The controlled and coherent manipulation of individual quantum systems is a fundamental key for the development of quantum information processing. The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color center in diamond is a promising system since its photoluminescence is perfectly stable at room temperature and its electron spin can be optically read-out at the individual level. We review here the experiments currently realized in our laboratory, concerning the use of single NV color center as single photon source and the coherent magnetic manipulation of the electron spin associated to a single NV color center. Furthermore, we demonstrate a nanoscopy experiment based on saturation absorption effect, which allows to optically pin-point single NV color center at a sub-? resolution. This opens a possibility to independently address two or multiple magnetically-coupled single NV color centers, which is a necessary step toward the realization of a diamond-based quantum computer.Comment: 8 page

Vector magnetic field sensing by single nitrogen vacancy center in diamond

In this Letter, we proposed and experimentally demonstrated a method to detect vector magnetic field with a single nitrogen vacancy (NV) center in diamond. The magnetic field in parallel with the axis of the NV center can be obtained by detecting the electron Zeeman shift, while the Larmor precession of an ancillary nuclear spin close to the NV center can be used to measure the field perpendicular to the axis. Experimentally, both the Zeeman shift and Larmor precession can be measured through the fluorescence from the NV center. By applying additional calibrated magnetic fields, complete information of the vector magnetic field can be achieved with such a method. This vector magnetic field detection method is insensitive to temperature fluctuation and it can be applied to nanoscale magnetic measurement.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure