Nanofabricated solid immersion lenses registered to single emitters in diamond

We describe a technique for fabricating micro- and nanostructures incorporating fluorescent defects in diamond with a positional accuracy better than hundreds of nanometers. Using confocal fluorescence microscopy and focused ion beam etching, we initially locate a suitable defect with respect to registration marks on the diamond surface then etch a structure using these coordinates. We demonstrate the technique by etching an 8 mu m diameter hemisphere positioned with single negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy defect lies at its origin. Direct comparison of the fluorescence photon count rate before and after fabrication shows an eightfold increase due to the presence of the hemisphere. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3573870]