Formation of perfectly aligned nitrogen-vacancy-center ensembles in chemical-vapor-deposition-grown diamond (111)

Selectively aligning a nitrogen-vacancy (NV) ensemble in diamond is an important technique for obtaining a high-sensitivity magnetic sensor. Nitrogen-doped diamonds were grown on (111) substrates by microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition to perform the selective alignment of high-density NV ensembles, yielding perfectly aligned NV ensembles along the [111] direction with a density greater than 1016 cm−3 and a spin relaxation time of 2 µs. Such alignment results in a high signal contrast with an optical magnetic resonance close to the typical value reported with an isolated NV center. These results indicate the possibility of achieving a high sensitivity through the selective alignment of NV ensembles.