title: Fabrication of all diamond scanning probes for nanoscale magnetometry.
abstract: The electronic spin of the nitrogen vacancy (NV) center in diamond forms an atomically sized, highly sensitive sensor for magnetic fields. To harness the full potential of individual NV centers for sensing with high sensitivity and nanoscale spatial resolution, NV centers have to be incorporated into scanning probe structures enabling controlled scanning in close proximity to the sample surface. Here, we present an optimized procedure to fabricate single-crystal, all-diamond scanning probes starting from commercially available diamond and show a highly efficient and robust approach for integrating these devices in a generic atomic force microscope. Our scanning probes consisting of a scanning nanopillar (200 nm diameter, 1-2 μm length) on a thin (<1 μm) cantilever structure enable efficient light extraction from diamond in combination with a high magnetic field sensitivity (ηAC≈50±20nT/Hz). As a first application of our scanning probes, we image the magnetic stray field of a single Ni nanorod. We show that this stray field can be approximated by a single dipole and estimate the NV-to-sample distance to a few tens of nanometer, which sets the achievable resolution of our scanning probes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 82, Basel CH-4056, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Appel
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 82, Basel CH-4056, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Elke
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Neu
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 82, Basel CH-4056, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ganzhorn
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 82, Basel CH-4056, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Arne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barfuss
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 82, Basel CH-4056, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Marietta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Batzer
authors.affiliation: Experimentalphysik, Universität des Saarlandes, D-66123 Saarbrücken, Germany.
authors.forename: Micha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gratz
authors.affiliation: Experimentalphysik, Universität des Saarlandes, D-66123 Saarbrücken, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tschöpe
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 82, Basel CH-4056, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Maletinsky