Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:2608.02350

Revealing and reducing growth-induced interfacial disorder in preferentially aligned nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond

Cheng-I Ho, Marina Davydova, Patrik Straňák, Felix Hoffmann, Peter Knittel, Andrej Denisenko, Jörg Wrachtrup

quant-phphysics.app-phSubmitted Aug 3, 2026• Announced Aug 4, 2026• 0 citations
v1 · Aug 3, 2026v2 · Aug 5, 2026
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in chemical-vapor-deposition (CVD) diamond can form preferentially oriented ensembles with high sensing performance and low densities of lattice defects. Thin films of this material are a cornerstone of various imaging modalities. However, nitrogen injection needed to produce such films can transiently drive growth out of equilibrium, generating interfacial strain and spin defects that degrade NV coherence. Here, we investigate this disorder in $^{12}\text{C}$-enriched, preferentially oriented NV layers grown on (111) diamond using two nitrogen-injection procedures, combined with nanometer-scale selective plasma etching and NV spin-coherence measurements. Pulsed nitrogen injection produces a pronounced nitrogen overshoot within a 60--80 nm interfacial region, generating excessive amounts of defects. By contrast, smooth nitrogen delivery through mass flow controllers substantially suppresses interfacial disorder, yielding coherence properties close to the theoretical limit imposed by spin-bath noise. A 50-nm NV layer is used to demonstrate proton nuclear magnetic resonance detection. This work reveals the role of interfacial disorder associated with the nitrogen-doping procedure and provides a route to growing high-quality, thin NV-doped layers for quantum-sensing applications.

Related papers

Production of oriented nitrogen-vacancy color centers in synthetic diamond

Andrew Mark Edmonds, Ulrika F. S. D’Haenens-Johansson, Robin J. Cruddace +6 more

The negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (${\mathrm{NV}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$) center in diamond is an attractive candidate for applications that range from magnetometry to quantum information processing. Here we show that only a fraction of the nitrogen (typically $<0.5$%) incorporated during homoepitaxial diamond growth by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is in the form of undecorated ${\mathrm{NV}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ centers. Furthermore, studies on CVD diamond grown on $(110)$-oriented substrates show a near 100% preferential orientation of NV centers along only the $[111]$ and $[\overline{1}\overline{1}1]$ directions, rather than the four possible orientations. The results indicate that NV centers grow in as units, as the diamond is deposited, rather than by migration and association of their components. The NV unit of the ${\mathrm{NVH}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ is similarly preferentially oriented, but it is not possible to determine whether this defect was formed by H capture at a preferentially aligned NV center or as a complete unit. Reducing the number of NV orientations from four orientations to two orientations should lead to increased optically detected magnetic resonance contrast and thus improved magnetic sensitivity in ensemble-based magnetometry.

arXiv:1112.5757•Physical Review B•Jul 5, 2012•179 citations

Perfectly aligned shallow ensemble nitrogen-vacancy centers in (111) diamond

Hitoshi Ishiwata, Makoto Nakajima, Kosuke Tahara +3 more

We report the formation of perfectly aligned, high-density, shallow nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers on the (111) surface of a diamond. The study involved step-flow growth with a high flux of nitrogen during chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth, which resulted in the formation of a highly concentrated (>1019 cm−3) nitrogen layer approximately 10 nm away from the substrate surface. Photon counts obtained from the NV centers indicated the presence of 6.1 × 1015–3.1 × 1016 cm−3 NV centers, which suggested the formation of an ensemble of NV centers. The optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) spectrum confirmed perfect alignment (more than 99%) for all the samples fabricated by step-flow growth via CVD. Perfectly aligned shallow ensemble NV centers indicated a high Rabi contrast of approximately 30% which is comparable to the values reported for a single NV center. Nanoscale nuclear magnetic resonance demonstrated surface-sensitive nuclear spin detection and provided a confirmation of the NV centers' depth. Single NV center approximation indicated that the depth of the NV centers was approximately 9–10.7 nm from the surface with error of less than ±0.8 nm. Thus, a route for material control of shallow NV centers has been developed by step-flow growth using a CVD system. Our finding pioneers on the atomic level control of NV center alignment for large area quantum magnetometry.

arXiv:1704.03642•Applied Physics Letters•Jul 24, 2017•60 citations

Creation of nitrogen-vacancy centers in chemical vapor deposition diamond for sensing applications

Tingpeng Luo, Lukas Lindner, J Langer +13 more

Abstract The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond is a promising quantum system for magnetometry applications exhibiting optical readout of minute energy shifts in its spin sub-levels. Key material requirements for NV ensembles are a high NV − concentration, a long spin coherence time and a stable charge state. However, these are interdependent and can be difficult to optimize during diamond growth and subsequent NV creation. In this work, we systematically investigate the NV center formation and properties in bulk chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamond. The nitrogen flow during growth is varied by over four orders of magnitude, resulting in a broad range of single substitutional nitrogen concentrations of 0.2–20 parts per million. For a fixed nitrogen concentration, we optimize electron-irradiation fluences with two different accelerated electron energies, and we study defect formation via optical characterizations. We discuss a general approach to determine the optimal irradiation conditions, for which an enhanced NV concentration and an optimum of NV charge states can both be satisfied. We achieve spin–spin coherence times T 2 ranging from 45.5 to 549 μ s for CVD diamonds containing 168 to 1 parts per billion NV − centers, respectively. This study shows a pathway to engineer properties of NV-doped CVD diamonds for improved sensitivity.

arXiv:2111.07981•New Journal of Physics•Feb 25, 2022•78 citations

Quantifying selective alignment of ensemble nitrogen-vacancy centers in (111) diamond

Kosuke Tahara, Hayato Ozawa, Takayuki Iwasaki +2 more

Selective alignment of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond is an important technique towards its applications. Quantification of the alignment ratio is necessary to design the optimized diamond samples. However, this is not a straightforward problem for dense ensemble of the NV centers. We estimate the alignment ratio of ensemble NV centers along the [111] direction in (111) diamond by optically detected magnetic resonance measurements. Diamond films deposited by N2 doped chemical vapor deposition have NV center densities over 1 × 1015 cm−3 and alignment ratios over 75%. Although spin coherence time (T2) is limited to a few μs by electron spins of nitrogen impurities, the combination of the selective alignment and the high density can be a possible way to optimize NV-containing diamond samples for the sensing applications.

Applied Physics Letters•Nov 9, 2015•39 citations

Characterization of low-nitrogen quantum diamond for pulsed magnetometry applications

Jiashen Tang, Connor Roncaioli, Andrew Mark Edmonds +4 more

Ensembles of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond are versatile quantum sensors with broad applications in the physical and life sciences. The concentration of neutral substitutional nitrogen ( [ N s 0 ]) strongly influences NV electronic spin coherence times, sensitivity, and optimal sensing strategies. Diamonds with [ N s 0 ] ∼ 1–10 ppm are a focus of recent material engineering efforts, with higher concentrations being favorable for continuous-wave optically detected magnetic resonance (CW-ODMR) and lower concentrations expected to benefit pulsed magnetometry techniques through extended NV spin coherence times and improved sensing duty cycles. In this work, we synthesize and characterize low- [ N s 0 ] ( ∼ 0.8 ppm), NV-enriched diamond material, engineered through low-strain chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth on high-quality substrates, 12 C isotopic purification, and controlled electron irradiation and annealing. Our results demonstrate good strain homogeneity in diamonds grown on CVD substrates and spin-bath-limited NV dephasing times. By measuring NV spin and charge properties across a wide range of optical NV excitation intensity, we provide direct comparisons of photon-shot-noise-limited magnetic field sensitivity between the current low- [ N s 0 ] and previously studied higher- [ N s 0 ] ( ∼ 14 ppm) NV-diamond sensors. We show that low- [ N s 0 ] diamond can outperform higher- [ N s 0 ] diamond at moderate and low optical NV excitation intensity. Our results provide practical benchmarks and guidance for selecting NV-diamond sensors tailored to specific experimental constraints and sensing requirements.

arXiv:2509.06884•Frontiers in Quantum Science and Technology•Dec 9, 2025•0 citations

Self-organized Layered Structures of Nitrogen-Vacancy Centers with Preferential Orientation in Heteroepitaxial Diamond Films

Vadim Lebedev, Alejandro Martínez-Méndez, Jesús Moreno-Meseguer +6 more

Here, we report the fabrication and characterization of single crystal diamond films on a two-inch wafer-scale containing three-dimensional layered structures of negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy color centers (NV$^{-}$). The (100)-oriented layered diamond films were grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) to create spatially separated regions of enhanced emission associated with NV$^{-}$ centers. Such localized emission enhancement as well as 2D and 3D arrays of spins could enable close-packed architectures for emerging quantum devices, such as data processors, memory cells, and magnetic sensors. A cyclic sequence of CVD growth and oxygen-plasma etching is employed, resulting in the in-situ formation of layered inverted pyramidal structures with flat $\{$111$\}$ sidewalls. These pits are subsequently overgrown by nitrogen-doped diamond to achieve NV$^{-}$-rich facets with a uniform N-V bond arrangement and improved nitrogen incorporation efficiency.

quant-pharXiv:2610.03150•Oct 5, 2026
Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in chemical-vapor-deposition (CVD) diamond can form preferentially oriented ensembles with high sensing performance and low densities of lattice defects. Thin films of this material are a cornerstone of various imaging modalities. However, nitrogen injection needed to produce such films can transiently drive growth out of equilibrium, generating interfacial strain and spin defects that degrade NV coherence. Here, we investigate this disorder in 12C^{12}\text{C}12C-enriched, preferentially oriented NV layers grown on (111) diamond using two nitrogen-injection procedures, combined with nanometer-scale selective plasma etching and NV spin-coherence measurements. Pulsed nitrogen injection produces a pronounced nitrogen overshoot within a 60--80 nm interfacial region, generating excessive amounts of defects. By contrast, smooth nitrogen delivery through mass flow controllers substantially suppresses interfacial disorder, yielding coherence properties close to the theoretical limit imposed by spin-bath noise. A 50-nm NV layer is used to demonstrate proton nuclear magnetic resonance detection. This work reveals the role of interfacial disorder associated with the nitrogen-doping procedure and provides a route to growing high-quality, thin NV-doped layers for quantum-sensing applications.
The negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (${\mathrm{NV}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$) center in diamond is an attractive candidate for applications that range from magnetometry to quantum information processing. Here we show that only a fraction of the nitrogen (typically <0.5<0.5<0.5%) incorporated during homoepitaxial diamond growth by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is in the form of undecorated ${\mathrm{NV}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ centers. Furthermore, studies on CVD diamond grown on (110)(110)(110)-oriented substrates show a near 100% preferential orientation of NV centers along only the [111][111][111] and [1‾1‾1][\overline{1}\overline{1}1][111] directions, rather than the four possible orientations. The results indicate that NV centers grow in as units, as the diamond is deposited, rather than by migration and association of their components. The NV unit of the ${\mathrm{NVH}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ is similarly preferentially oriented, but it is not possible to determine whether this defect was formed by H capture at a preferentially aligned NV center or as a complete unit. Reducing the number of NV orientations from four orientations to two orientations should lead to increased optically detected magnetic resonance contrast and thus improved magnetic sensitivity in ensemble-based magnetometry.
We report the formation of perfectly aligned, high-density, shallow nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers on the (111) surface of a diamond. The study involved step-flow growth with a high flux of nitrogen during chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth, which resulted in the formation of a highly concentrated (>1019 cm−3) nitrogen layer approximately 10 nm away from the substrate surface. Photon counts obtained from the NV centers indicated the presence of 6.1 × 1015–3.1 × 1016 cm−3 NV centers, which suggested the formation of an ensemble of NV centers. The optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) spectrum confirmed perfect alignment (more than 99%) for all the samples fabricated by step-flow growth via CVD. Perfectly aligned shallow ensemble NV centers indicated a high Rabi contrast of approximately 30% which is comparable to the values reported for a single NV center. Nanoscale nuclear magnetic resonance demonstrated surface-sensitive nuclear spin detection and provided a confirmation of the NV centers' depth. Single NV center approximation indicated that the depth of the NV centers was approximately 9–10.7 nm from the surface with error of less than ±0.8 nm. Thus, a route for material control of shallow NV centers has been developed by step-flow growth using a CVD system. Our finding pioneers on the atomic level control of NV center alignment for large area quantum magnetometry.
Abstract The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond is a promising quantum system for magnetometry applications exhibiting optical readout of minute energy shifts in its spin sub-levels. Key material requirements for NV ensembles are a high NV − concentration, a long spin coherence time and a stable charge state. However, these are interdependent and can be difficult to optimize during diamond growth and subsequent NV creation. In this work, we systematically investigate the NV center formation and properties in bulk chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamond. The nitrogen flow during growth is varied by over four orders of magnitude, resulting in a broad range of single substitutional nitrogen concentrations of 0.2–20 parts per million. For a fixed nitrogen concentration, we optimize electron-irradiation fluences with two different accelerated electron energies, and we study defect formation via optical characterizations. We discuss a general approach to determine the optimal irradiation conditions, for which an enhanced NV concentration and an optimum of NV charge states can both be satisfied. We achieve spin–spin coherence times T 2 ranging from 45.5 to 549 μ s for CVD diamonds containing 168 to 1 parts per billion NV − centers, respectively. This study shows a pathway to engineer properties of NV-doped CVD diamonds for improved sensitivity.
Selective alignment of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond is an important technique towards its applications. Quantification of the alignment ratio is necessary to design the optimized diamond samples. However, this is not a straightforward problem for dense ensemble of the NV centers. We estimate the alignment ratio of ensemble NV centers along the [111] direction in (111) diamond by optically detected magnetic resonance measurements. Diamond films deposited by N2 doped chemical vapor deposition have NV center densities over 1 × 1015 cm−3 and alignment ratios over 75%. Although spin coherence time (T2) is limited to a few μs by electron spins of nitrogen impurities, the combination of the selective alignment and the high density can be a possible way to optimize NV-containing diamond samples for the sensing applications.
Ensembles of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond are versatile quantum sensors with broad applications in the physical and life sciences. The concentration of neutral substitutional nitrogen ( [ N s 0 ]) strongly influences NV electronic spin coherence times, sensitivity, and optimal sensing strategies. Diamonds with [ N s 0 ] ∼ 1–10 ppm are a focus of recent material engineering efforts, with higher concentrations being favorable for continuous-wave optically detected magnetic resonance (CW-ODMR) and lower concentrations expected to benefit pulsed magnetometry techniques through extended NV spin coherence times and improved sensing duty cycles. In this work, we synthesize and characterize low- [ N s 0 ] ( ∼ 0.8 ppm), NV-enriched diamond material, engineered through low-strain chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth on high-quality substrates, 12 C isotopic purification, and controlled electron irradiation and annealing. Our results demonstrate good strain homogeneity in diamonds grown on CVD substrates and spin-bath-limited NV dephasing times. By measuring NV spin and charge properties across a wide range of optical NV excitation intensity, we provide direct comparisons of photon-shot-noise-limited magnetic field sensitivity between the current low- [ N s 0 ] and previously studied higher- [ N s 0 ] ( ∼ 14 ppm) NV-diamond sensors. We show that low- [ N s 0 ] diamond can outperform higher- [ N s 0 ] diamond at moderate and low optical NV excitation intensity. Our results provide practical benchmarks and guidance for selecting NV-diamond sensors tailored to specific experimental constraints and sensing requirements.
Here, we report the fabrication and characterization of single crystal diamond films on a two-inch wafer-scale containing three-dimensional layered structures of negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy color centers (NV−^{-}−). The (100)-oriented layered diamond films were grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) to create spatially separated regions of enhanced emission associated with NV−^{-}− centers. Such localized emission enhancement as well as 2D and 3D arrays of spins could enable close-packed architectures for emerging quantum devices, such as data processors, memory cells, and magnetic sensors. A cyclic sequence of CVD growth and oxygen-plasma etching is employed, resulting in the in-situ formation of layered inverted pyramidal structures with flat $\{111111111\}$ sidewalls. These pits are subsequently overgrown by nitrogen-doped diamond to achieve NV−^{-}−-rich facets with a uniform N-V bond arrangement and improved nitrogen incorporation efficiency.