The properties of the nitrogen-vacancy center in milled chemical vapor deposition nanodiamonds

A Mameli; G Thalassinos; M Capelli; J Ackermann; E Mayes; H Abe; T Ohshima; T Luo; V Cimalla; P Knittel; BC Gibson; J Jeske; N Dontschuk; A Krueger; A Stacey; A Healey; P Reineck

Journal article

The properties of the nitrogen-vacancy center in milled chemical vapor deposition nanodiamonds

A Mameli, G Thalassinos, M Capelli, J Ackermann, E Mayes, H Abe, T Ohshima, T Luo, V Cimalla, P Knittel, BC Gibson, J Jeske, N Dontschuk, A Krueger, A Stacey, A Healey, P Reineck

Materials for Quantum Technology | IOP Publishing | Published : 2026

DOI: 10.1088/2633-4356/ae4565

Open access

Abstract

Fluorescent nanodiamonds (FNDs) containing negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV−) centers are vital for many emerging quantum sensing applications from magnetometry to intracellular sensing in biology. However, developing a scalable fabrication method for FNDs hosting color centers with consistent bulk-like photoluminescence (PL) and spin coherence properties remains a highly desired but unrealized goal. Here, we investigate optimized ball milling of single-crystal diamonds produced via chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and containing 2 ppm of substitutional nitrogen and 0.3 ppm of NV− to achieve this goal. The NV charge state, PL lifetime, and spin properties of bulk CVD diamond samples ar..

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