Scanning Diamond NV Center Probes Compatible with Conventional AFM Technology

Abstract: Scanning probe microscopy using nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in diamond has become a versatile tool with applications in physics, chemistry, life sciences and earth and planetary sciences. However, the fabrication of diamond scanning probes with high photon collection efficiency, NV centers with long coherence times and integrated radio frequency (RF) remains challenging due to the small physical dimensions of the probes and the complexity of the fabrication techniques. In this work, we present a simple and robust method to reliably fabricate probes that can be integrated with conventional quartz tuning fork based sensors as well as commercial silicon AFM cantilevers. For the first time, an integrated RF micro-antenna for NV center spin manipulation is directly fabricated onto the probe making the design versatile and compatible with virtually all AFM instruments. This integration marks a complete sensor package for NV center-based magnetometry, and opens up this newly developed scanning probe technique to the broader scientific community.