Journal
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS
Volume 112, Issue 14, Pages -Publisher
AMER PHYSICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.147602
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Funding
- Swiss National Science Foundation [200021_137520/1]
- Swiss National Science Foundation through the NCCR QSIT
- Cannon Foundation
- JSPS
- MEXT
- Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) [200021_137520] Funding Source: Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF)
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We present measurements of spin relaxation times (T-1, T-1 rho, T-2) on very shallow (less than or similar to 5 nm) nitrogen-vacancy centers in high-purity diamond single crystals. We find a reduction of spin relaxation times up to 30 times compared to bulk values, indicating the presence of ubiquitous magnetic impurities associated with the surface. Our measurements yield a density of 0.01-0.1 mu(B)/nm(2) and a characteristic correlation time of 0.28(3) ns of surface states, with little variation between samples and chemical surface terminations. A low temperature measurement further confirms that fluctuations are thermally activated. The data support the atomistic picture where impurities are associated with the top carbon layers, and not with terminating surface atoms or adsorbate molecules. The low spin density implies that the presence of a single surface impurity is sufficient to cause spin relaxation of a shallow nitrogen-vacancy center.
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