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Development of Ultrahigh-precision Ion Implantation System Based on Laser-cooled Ion Source

Hosaka Koichi, Seiji Hosoya, Kashiwagi Hirotsugu, Miyawaki Nobumasa, Ishii Yasuyuki, Yamagata Ryohei, Narumi Kazumasa, Yuri Yosuke, Onoda Shinobu, Kento Muroo, K. Ito, Okamoto Hiromi

Published Jul 29, 2025• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond are gaining attention as room-temperature quantum bits, with potential applications in quantum sensing, quantum information processing, and quantum communication. Precise positioning of NV centers is crucial for creating efficient single-photon sources using optical resonators and quantum memories for quantum interface, etc. Generally, broad ion beam implantation through nanohole fabricated by electron beam lithography has been widely used for precise creation of NV centers. There are several reports of deterministic NV creation by using pulsed fs- or ps-laser irradiations. In addition, focusing ion beam implantation provides a route towards scalable quantum information processing [3-6]. In this study, we are developing an inherently deterministic single-ion implantation method based on a linear Paul trap (LPT) as a single-ion source, since the laser-cooling technique can be applied to the trap system to obtain ultralow-emittance ions and manipulate single ions one by one. The QST system uses doubly charged ions cooled with calcium ions, allowing 100 keV ion implantation in diamond.

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Deterministic ion implantation and color-center creation methods at the nanometer scale provide a route towards scalable quantum information processing. For this purpose, we have developed an inherently deterministic single-ion implantation method based on a linear Paul trap (LPT) as a single-ion source since the laser-cooling technique can be applied to the trap system to obtain ultralow-emittance ions and manipulate single ions one by one . Doubly charged nitrogen ions (N2+) produced in a sputter ion source is introduced into the LPT and sympathetically cooled with laser-cooled calcium ions (Ca+). Both the sputter ion source and the LPT chamber are elevated to +50kV for the 100keV-implantation of doubly charged single ions into a grounded diamond crystal.

•Jul 24, 2024•0 citations

Fabrication of 15NV− centers in diamond using a deterministic single ion implanter

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Abstract Nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in diamond are a platform for several important quantum technologies, including sensing, communication and elementary quantum processors. In this letter we demonstrate the creation of NV centers by implantation using a deterministic single ion source. For this we sympathetically laser-cool single N 2 + 15 molecular ions in a Paul trap and extract them at an energy of 5.9 keV. Subsequently the ions are focused with a lateral resolution of 121(35) nm and are implanted into a diamond substrate without any spatial filtering by apertures or masks. After high-temperature annealing, we detect the NV centers in a confocal microscope and determine a conversion efficiency of about 0.6%. The 15NV centers are characterized by optically detected magnetic resonance on the hyperfine transition and coherence time.

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Abstract A detailed simulation study is conducted to explore the possibility of transporting a single ion precisely along a particular design orbit. As a practically useful example, we consider nitrogen ions sympathetically cooled with ultracold calcium ions produced in a linear Paul trap (LPT) by the Doppler laser-cooling technique. A single nitrogen almost completely frozen in the laboratory frame is extracted from the LPT by manipulating the axial potential barriers. A similar idea was recently implemented by Groot-Berning et al. [New J. Phys. 23, 063067 (2021)] to create nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond as a platform for some important quantum technologies. We here perform systematic 3D simulations taking a standard LPT structure into account and figure out the necessary conditions to achieve the ultrahigh-precision irradiation of a single nitrogen onto any target. In addition to the string Coulomb crystal used in the previous work above, we show that even the shell crystalline structure can be employed for our purpose. When several specific conditions are satisfied, a normalized root-mean-squared emittance of ejected nitrogen ions can be made of the order of 10−16 m·rad in transverse dimensions perpendicular to the design orbit.

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Generation and Characterization of NV Quantum Registers Using Isotopically Enriched Molecular Ions

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A nitrogen vacancy (NV) center in diamond is known as a solid-state spin quantum bit (qubit) at room temperature. The fabrication of scalable quantum registers based on NV centers is a long-standing issue. In 2005, spin-spin interaction between NV-N pairs, which were fabricated by N2 ion implantation, was reported. An entanglement between two electron-spin qubits becomes an excellent quantum information processing component, as accomplished by an NV-NV pair with a nanometer-scale distance in 2010 and 2013. More recently,strongly dipolar coupled NV-NV pairs were realized by 14N 30 keV implantationvia nanoholes in PMMA resist mask. The creation yields of NV-NV pairs dramatically improved, and the nanohole implantation had been thought to be the most promising technique to integrate NV centers. However, the problem of the technique is the finite size of nanoholes. The distribution of nitrogen atoms is determined by both ion straggling and nanohole diameter. The scaling of NV centers is stagnant up to two for several years. To overcome the barrier of triple NV centers, our previous research gave a ground-breaking idea of a highly populated NV center complex by introducing a molecular ion implantation technique in 2019. Since the molecular ion is regarded as an idea point source, the distribution of nitrogen atoms is determined by only ion straggling. Therefore, our proposed method is more effective than other implantation techniques including nanohole implantation. Instead of a pure nitrogen cluster which is commonly unstable, the stable organic molecular ions (adenine; C5N5H5) were utilized as the ion source. We successfully implanted C5N4Hn ions into single crystalline diamonds. Three NV centers were integrated, and the dipolar interactions among them were successfully observed. In 2022, we succeeded in creating more than 5 NV centers by phthalocyanine (C32H18N8) ion implantation. The next challenge is the implantation of isotopically enriched molecular ions. The isotopically enriched ion contains 13C and 15N. The implantation of isotopically enriched molecular ions is able to create 15NV-13C hybrid quantum registers. In this presentation, we will show the development of the isotopically enriched molecular ion beam and the characterization of created NV centers by laboratory-built confocal microscopy (CFM) and optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR).

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Hot ion implantation to create dense NV center ensembles in diamond

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Creating dense and shallow nitrogen-vacancy (NV) ensembles with good spin properties is a prerequisite for developing diamond-based quantum sensors exhibiting better performance. Ion implantation is a key enabling tool for precisely controlling spatial localization and density of NV color centers in diamond. However, it suffers from a low creation yield, while higher ion fluences significantly damage the crystal lattice. In this work, we realize N2+ ion implantation in the 30–40 keV range at high temperatures. At 800 °C, NV's ensemble photoluminescence emission is three to four times higher than room temperature implanted films, while narrow electron spin resonance linewidths of 1.5 MHz, comparable to well-established implantation techniques, are obtained. In addition, we found that ion fluences above 2 × 1014 ions/cm2 can be used without graphitization of the diamond film, in contrast to room temperature implantation. This study opens promising perspectives in optimizing diamond films with implanted NV ensembles that could be integrated into quantum sensing devices.

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Research and development of an ultrahigh-precision single-ion implanter

Yuri Yosuke, Hosaka Koichi, Miyawaki Nobumasa +8 more

Ion implantation is an accelerator-based technology used to create defects and introducing impurities into solid materials. A research and development study is currently underway toward ultrahigh-precision single-ion implantation using laser-cooling techniques at Takasaki Institute, National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology. To achieve this, we incorporate a linear Paul trap as an ultracold single-ion source, where trapped ions can be made “Coulomb-crystallized” through Doppler laser cooling. In our scheme, nitrogen or silicon ions, useful for ion implantation to create color centers in materials, are sympathetically cooled through Coulomb collisions by co-trapping them with laser-cooled calcium ions to form a two-component crystal. These cold ions are then selectively extracted from the trap to be accelerated and focused through a 50-kV electrostatic bipotential-lens system. Our goal is to achieve beam focusing for ultrahigh-precision implantation on the order of 10 nm. The implanter system has already been assembled, and the commissioning is currently ongoing to enable single-ion extraction using a Coulomb crystal. In these proceedings, we describe the scheme for selective ion extraction and nanobeam focusing based on multiparticle simulations and briefly report recent progress in system implementation.

•May 1, 2026•0 citations
Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond are gaining attention as room-temperature quantum bits, with potential applications in quantum sensing, quantum information processing, and quantum communication. Precise positioning of NV centers is crucial for creating efficient single-photon sources using optical resonators and quantum memories for quantum interface, etc. Generally, broad ion beam implantation through nanohole fabricated by electron beam lithography has been widely used for precise creation of NV centers. There are several reports of deterministic NV creation by using pulsed fs- or ps-laser irradiations. In addition, focusing ion beam implantation provides a route towards scalable quantum information processing [3-6]. In this study, we are developing an inherently deterministic single-ion implantation method based on a linear Paul trap (LPT) as a single-ion source, since the laser-cooling technique can be applied to the trap system to obtain ultralow-emittance ions and manipulate single ions one by one. The QST system uses doubly charged ions cooled with calcium ions, allowing 100 keV ion implantation in diamond.
Deterministic ion implantation and color-center creation methods at the nanometer scale provide a route towards scalable quantum information processing. For this purpose, we have developed an inherently deterministic single-ion implantation method based on a linear Paul trap (LPT) as a single-ion source since the laser-cooling technique can be applied to the trap system to obtain ultralow-emittance ions and manipulate single ions one by one . Doubly charged nitrogen ions (N2+) produced in a sputter ion source is introduced into the LPT and sympathetically cooled with laser-cooled calcium ions (Ca+). Both the sputter ion source and the LPT chamber are elevated to +50kV for the 100keV-implantation of doubly charged single ions into a grounded diamond crystal.
Abstract Nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in diamond are a platform for several important quantum technologies, including sensing, communication and elementary quantum processors. In this letter we demonstrate the creation of NV centers by implantation using a deterministic single ion source. For this we sympathetically laser-cool single N 2 + 15 molecular ions in a Paul trap and extract them at an energy of 5.9 keV. Subsequently the ions are focused with a lateral resolution of 121(35) nm and are implanted into a diamond substrate without any spatial filtering by apertures or masks. After high-temperature annealing, we detect the NV centers in a confocal microscope and determine a conversion efficiency of about 0.6%. The 15NV centers are characterized by optically detected magnetic resonance on the hyperfine transition and coherence time.
Abstract A detailed simulation study is conducted to explore the possibility of transporting a single ion precisely along a particular design orbit. As a practically useful example, we consider nitrogen ions sympathetically cooled with ultracold calcium ions produced in a linear Paul trap (LPT) by the Doppler laser-cooling technique. A single nitrogen almost completely frozen in the laboratory frame is extracted from the LPT by manipulating the axial potential barriers. A similar idea was recently implemented by Groot-Berning et al. [New J. Phys. 23, 063067 (2021)] to create nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond as a platform for some important quantum technologies. We here perform systematic 3D simulations taking a standard LPT structure into account and figure out the necessary conditions to achieve the ultrahigh-precision irradiation of a single nitrogen onto any target. In addition to the string Coulomb crystal used in the previous work above, we show that even the shell crystalline structure can be employed for our purpose. When several specific conditions are satisfied, a normalized root-mean-squared emittance of ejected nitrogen ions can be made of the order of 10−16 m·rad in transverse dimensions perpendicular to the design orbit.
A nitrogen vacancy (NV) center in diamond is known as a solid-state spin quantum bit (qubit) at room temperature. The fabrication of scalable quantum registers based on NV centers is a long-standing issue. In 2005, spin-spin interaction between NV-N pairs, which were fabricated by N2 ion implantation, was reported. An entanglement between two electron-spin qubits becomes an excellent quantum information processing component, as accomplished by an NV-NV pair with a nanometer-scale distance in 2010 and 2013. More recently,strongly dipolar coupled NV-NV pairs were realized by 14N 30 keV implantationvia nanoholes in PMMA resist mask. The creation yields of NV-NV pairs dramatically improved, and the nanohole implantation had been thought to be the most promising technique to integrate NV centers. However, the problem of the technique is the finite size of nanoholes. The distribution of nitrogen atoms is determined by both ion straggling and nanohole diameter. The scaling of NV centers is stagnant up to two for several years. To overcome the barrier of triple NV centers, our previous research gave a ground-breaking idea of a highly populated NV center complex by introducing a molecular ion implantation technique in 2019. Since the molecular ion is regarded as an idea point source, the distribution of nitrogen atoms is determined by only ion straggling. Therefore, our proposed method is more effective than other implantation techniques including nanohole implantation. Instead of a pure nitrogen cluster which is commonly unstable, the stable organic molecular ions (adenine; C5N5H5) were utilized as the ion source. We successfully implanted C5N4Hn ions into single crystalline diamonds. Three NV centers were integrated, and the dipolar interactions among them were successfully observed. In 2022, we succeeded in creating more than 5 NV centers by phthalocyanine (C32H18N8) ion implantation. The next challenge is the implantation of isotopically enriched molecular ions. The isotopically enriched ion contains 13C and 15N. The implantation of isotopically enriched molecular ions is able to create 15NV-13C hybrid quantum registers. In this presentation, we will show the development of the isotopically enriched molecular ion beam and the characterization of created NV centers by laboratory-built confocal microscopy (CFM) and optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR).
Creating dense and shallow nitrogen-vacancy (NV) ensembles with good spin properties is a prerequisite for developing diamond-based quantum sensors exhibiting better performance. Ion implantation is a key enabling tool for precisely controlling spatial localization and density of NV color centers in diamond. However, it suffers from a low creation yield, while higher ion fluences significantly damage the crystal lattice. In this work, we realize N2+ ion implantation in the 30–40 keV range at high temperatures. At 800 °C, NV's ensemble photoluminescence emission is three to four times higher than room temperature implanted films, while narrow electron spin resonance linewidths of 1.5 MHz, comparable to well-established implantation techniques, are obtained. In addition, we found that ion fluences above 2 × 1014 ions/cm2 can be used without graphitization of the diamond film, in contrast to room temperature implantation. This study opens promising perspectives in optimizing diamond films with implanted NV ensembles that could be integrated into quantum sensing devices.
Ion implantation is an accelerator-based technology used to create defects and introducing impurities into solid materials. A research and development study is currently underway toward ultrahigh-precision single-ion implantation using laser-cooling techniques at Takasaki Institute, National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology. To achieve this, we incorporate a linear Paul trap as an ultracold single-ion source, where trapped ions can be made “Coulomb-crystallized” through Doppler laser cooling. In our scheme, nitrogen or silicon ions, useful for ion implantation to create color centers in materials, are sympathetically cooled through Coulomb collisions by co-trapping them with laser-cooled calcium ions to form a two-component crystal. These cold ions are then selectively extracted from the trap to be accelerated and focused through a 50-kV electrostatic bipotential-lens system. Our goal is to achieve beam focusing for ultrahigh-precision implantation on the order of 10 nm. The implanter system has already been assembled, and the commissioning is currently ongoing to enable single-ion extraction using a Coulomb crystal. In these proceedings, we describe the scheme for selective ion extraction and nanobeam focusing based on multiparticle simulations and briefly report recent progress in system implementation.