arXiv:2511.08632

High-quality nanostructured diamond membranes for nanoscale quantum sensing

Alexander Pakpour Tabrizi, Artur Lozovoi, Sean Karg, Tecla Bottinelli Mondandon, Melody Leung, Kai-Hung Cheng, Nathalie P. de Leon

cond-mat.mes-hallcond-mat.mtrl-sciquant-phSubmitted Nov 9, 2025• Announced Nov 11, 2025• 0 citations• Revised Nov 16, 2025 (v2)

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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.

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