Improving the electron spin properties of NV centres in NDs by NF etching

Out paper was published in Scientific Reports

F. Brandenburg, R. Nagumo, K. Saichi, K. Tahara, T. Iwasaki, M. Hatano, F. Jelezko, R. Igarashi, and T. Yatsui, “Improving the electron spin properties of nitrogen-vacancy centres in nanodiamonds by near-field etching,” Scientific Reports, Vol. 8, October 2018, 15847 (8 pages)

[Significance of this article]

In this study, we demonstrated a method for improving the nitrogen-vacancy spin properties through a near-field etching method under ambient conditions. The experiments were conducted under ambient conditions with a light source having a wavelength slightly above the O₂ absorption edge. We demonstrated that NV nanodiamond exposure to NF etching under ambient conditions could reduce the FWHM value by up to 15% and the coherence time by up to 25%. We believe that our study makes a significant contribution to the literature because our technique can be easily reproduced, and a wide range of NV centre applications could be improved, including quantum computing and magnetic sensing applications.