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Nanoscale Engineering of Closely-Spaced Electronic Spins in Diamond

MetadataDetails
Publication Date2016-07-18
JournalNano Letters
AuthorsDiego Scarabelli, Matt Trusheim, Ophir Gaathon, Dirk Englund, Shalom J. Wind
InstitutionsMassachusetts Institute of Technology, NBD Nanotechnologies (United States)
Citations51

Numerous theoretical protocols have been developed for quantum information processing with dipole-coupled solid-state spins. Nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in diamond have many of the desired properties, but a central challenge has been the positioning of NV centers at the nanometer scale that would allow for efficient and consistent dipolar couplings. Here we demonstrate a method for chip-scale fabrication of arrays of single NV centers with record spatial localization of about 10 nm in all three dimensions and controllable inter-NV spacing as small as 40 nm, which approaches the length scale of strong dipolar coupling. Our approach uses masked implantation of nitrogen through nanoapertures in a thin gold film, patterned via electron-beam lithography and dry etching. We verified the position and spin properties of the resulting NVs through wide-field super-resolution optically detected magnetic resonance imaging.