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arXiv · 2301.10188

Long Spin Coherence and Relaxation Times in Nanodiamonds Milled from Polycrystalline $^{12}$C Diamond

James E March·Benjamin D Wood·Colin J Stephen·Laura Durán Fervenza·Ben G Breeze·Soumen Mandal·Andrew M Edmonds·Daniel J Twitchen·Matthew L Markham·Oliver A Williams·Gavin W Morley
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Abstract

The negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy centre (NV$^-$) in diamond has been utilized in a wide variety of sensing applications. The centre's long spin coherence and relaxation times ($T_2^*$, $T_2$ and $T_1$) at room temperature are crucial to this, as they often limit sensitivity. Using NV$^-$ centres in nanodiamonds allows for operations in environments inaccessible to bulk diamond, such as intracellular sensing. We report long spin coherence and relaxation times at room temperature for single NV$^-$ centres in isotopically-purified polycrystalline ball-milled nanodiamonds. Using a spin-locking pulse sequence, we observe spin coherence times, $T_2$, up 786 $\pm$ 200 $\mu$s. We also measure $T_2^*$ times up to 2.06 $\pm$ 0.24 $\mu$s and $T_1$ times up to 4.32 $\pm$ 0.60 ms. Scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy measurements show that the diamond containing the NV$^{-}$ centre with the longest $T_1$ time is smaller than 100 nm. EPR measurements give an N$_{s}$$^{0}$ concentration of 0.15 $\pm$ 0.02 ppm for the nanodiamond sample.

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James E March, Benjamin D Wood, Colin J Stephen, Laura Durán Fervenza, Ben G Breeze, Soumen Mandal, Andrew M Edmonds, Daniel J Twitchen, Matthew L Markham, Oliver A Williams, Gavin W Morley. 2023-01-24. Long Spin Coherence and Relaxation Times in Nanodiamonds Milled from Polycrystalline $^{12}$C Diamond. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevapplied.20.044045

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