ABSTRACT
Optical techniques have advanced considerably in recent years to enable processing of surfaces with a resolution less than the wavelength of light. Despite the highly selective nature of light-matter interactions, however, efforts to increase resolution to the scale of single atoms are hampered by rapid and efficient dissipation of the absorbed energy to the surrounding matrix. Here we show that two-photon surface excitation using ultraviolet light provides a method for selectively removing carbon from diamond surfaces. Polished surfaces etched by this method develop ultra-deep subwavelength structures with morphologies dependent on the polarization of the incident laser with respect to the crystal axes. As well as revealing a practical and versatile method for nano-patterning of diamond surfaces, we show that the results comprise mesoscopic evidence for bond scission via a highly localized optical interaction that may lead to the development of new optical approaches for ultra-nanoscale (<10 nm) surface structuring.
ABSTRACT
Nitrogen-vacancy colour centres in diamond can undergo strong, spin-sensitive optical transitions under ambient conditions, which makes them attractive for applications in quantum optics, nanoscale magnetometry and biolabelling. Although nitrogen-vacancy centres have been observed in aggregated detonation nanodiamonds and milled nanodiamonds, they have not been observed in very small isolated nanodiamonds. Here, we report the first direct observation of nitrogen-vacancy centres in discrete 5-nm nanodiamonds at room temperature, including evidence for intermittency in the luminescence (blinking) from the nanodiamonds. We also show that it is possible to control this blinking by modifying the surface of the nanodiamonds.
