Enhanced Widefield Quantum Sensing with Nitrogen-Vacancy Ensembles Using Diamond Nanopillar Arrays

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Quantum Optics
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Surface structuring enhances optical interfaces for single emitters in diamond.
• The application of surface structuring to ensembles of emitters is less explored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate scalable fabrication of diamond nanopillars with dense, bright ensembles of near-surface nitrogen-vacancy centers.
• To investigate the impact of nanopillar size on spin and photoluminescence properties.
• To assess the utility of these structures for multimodal and vector-resolved imaging.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of closely packed arrays of fluorescent diamond nanopillars using scalable and fault-tolerant techniques.
• Characterization of spin and photoluminescence properties of nitrogen-vacancy centers within the nanopillars.
• Imaging of the mechanical stress tensor in individual diamond pillars using enhanced sensitivity.

Main Results:

• Achieved dense, uniformly bright ensembles of near-surface nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond nanopillars.
• Realized enhanced spin and photoluminescence properties, leading to a 4.5x increase in optically detected magnetic resonance sensitivity.
• Demonstrated negligible impact of fabrication on in-built stress within the nanopillars compared to unpatterned surfaces.

Conclusions:

• Scalable fabrication of diamond nanopillars with NV ensembles offers enhanced optical and spin properties.
• The technique provides a valuable platform for sensitive imaging applications, including multimodal and vector-resolved studies.
• This approach is promising for future applications in biological sensing and quantum information processing.