A flexible nitrogen-vacancy center probe for scanning magnetometry

The key component of the scanning magnetometry based on nitrogen-vacancy centers is the diamond probe. Here, we designed and fabricated a new type of probe with an array of pillars on a (100 µm)² × 50 µm diamond chip. The probe features high yield, convertibility to be a single pillar, and expedient reusability. Our fabrication is dramatically simplified by using ultraviolet laser cutting to shape the chip from a diamond substrate instead of additional lithography and time-consuming reactive ion etching. As an example, we demonstrate the imaging of a single magnetic skyrmion with nanoscale resolution. In the future, this flexible probe will be particularly well-suited for commercial applications.