2025/07/18 by Klink, Kai, Kirkpatrick, Andrew Raj, Tadokoro, Yukihiro +2
#FOS: Physical sciences #Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2507.14047
Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond are widely recognized as highly promising solid-state quantum sensors due to their long room temperature coherence times and atomic-scale size, which enable exceptional sensitivity and nanoscale spatial resolution under ambient conditions. Ultrafast laser writing has demonstrated the deterministic spatial control of individual NV- centers, however, the resulting random orientation of the defect axis limits the magnetic field sensitivity and signal contrast. Here, we present an all-optical approach for reorienting laser-written NV- centers to lie along a specific crystallographic axis using femtosecond laser annealing. This technique enables the creation of spatially ordered NV- arrays with uniform orientation, for enhancing performance for quantum magnetometry. We achieve deterministic alignment along the optical axis in both (100)- and (111)-oriented diamond substrates, paving the way for scalable, high-performance quantum devices based on orientation-controlled NV- centers.