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arXiv · 1409.2573

Atomistic mechanism of perfect alignment of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond

Takehide Miyazaki·Yoshiyuki Miyamoto·Toshiharu Makino·Hiromitsu Kato·Satoshi Yamasaki·Takahiro Fukui·Yuki Doi·Norio Tokuda·Mutsuko Hatano·Norikazu Mizuochi
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Abstract

Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond have attracted a great deal of attention because of their possible use in information processing and electromagnetic sensing technologies. We examined theatomistic generation mechanism for the NV defect aligned in the [111] direction of C(111) substrates. We found that N is incorporated in the C bilayers during the lateral growth arising from a sequence of kink propagation along the step edge down to [-1,-1,2]. As a result, the atomic configuration with the N-atom lone-pair pointing in the [111] direction is formed, which causes preferential alignment of NVs. Our model is consistent with recent experimental data for perfect NV alignment in C(111) substrates.

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Takehide Miyazaki, Yoshiyuki Miyamoto, Toshiharu Makino, Hiromitsu Kato, Satoshi Yamasaki, Takahiro Fukui, Yuki Doi, Norio Tokuda, Mutsuko Hatano, Norikazu Mizuochi. 2014-09-09. Atomistic mechanism of perfect alignment of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4904988

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