Burning and graphitization of optically levitated nanodiamonds in vacuum
At a Glance
Section titled āAt a Glanceā| Metadata | Details |
|---|---|
| Publication Date | 2016-02-22 |
| Journal | Scientific Reports |
| Authors | A. T. M. A. Rahman, A. C. Frangeskou, Kim Ms, S. Bose, G.W. Morley |
| Institutions | Imperial College London, University College London |
| Citations | 81 |
Abstract
Section titled āAbstractāAbstract A nitrogen-vacancy (NV ā ) centre in a nanodiamond, levitated in high vacuum, has recently been proposed as a probe for demonstrating mesoscopic centre-of-mass superpositions and for testing quantum gravity. Here, we study the behaviour of optically levitated nanodiamonds containing NV ā centres at sub-atmospheric pressures and show that while they burn in air, this can be prevented by replacing the air with nitrogen. However, in nitrogen the nanodiamonds graphitize below ā10 mB. Exploiting the Brownian motion of a levitated nanodiamond, we extract its internal temperature ( T i ) and find that it would be detrimental to the NV ā centreās spin coherence time. These values of T i make it clear that the diamond is not melting, contradicting a recent suggestion. Additionally, using the measured damping rate of a levitated nanoparticle at a given pressure, we propose a new way of determining its size.