A Method for Aligning Solid-state Defects in Diamond

The goal of this project is to fabricate diamond in which the atomic defects known as nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers are aligned in the same direction. NV centers are popular spin qubits used for magnetometry. The sensitivity of a magnetic field sensor made with NV centers depends on the number of NV centers employed. However, NV centers in an ensemble don’t form in the same direction which reduces the performance of the magnetic field sensor. In this phase of the project the effect of different stimuli on the formation energy of NV centers will be studied. This study includes simulations and experiments to determine the effect of different stimuli on the formation energy and orientation NV centers. The feasibility of applying an stimulus which will break the degeneracy in the formation energy in different directions will be determined in this phase.