Perfectly Aligned Shallow Ensemble Nitrogen-Vacancy Centers in (111) Diamond

Abstract: 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 (>$10^{19}$ cm$^{-3}$) nitrogen layer approximately $10$ nm away from the substrate surface. Photon counts obtained from the NV centers indicated the presence of $6.1$x$10^{15}$-$3.1$x$10^{16}$ 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 NMR 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 $\pm$$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.