(
)
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS TO A DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP OF THE DOCTORAL SCHOOL EDOM
Subject of the thesis
Thesis Advisor
First Name : Jean-François
Phone : +33-(0)1-6935-2006
E-mail : jean-francois.roch@ens-cachan.fr
Laboratory : Laboratoire Aimé Cotton
Director : Jean-François ROCH
Web site : http://www.lac.u-psud.fr
Address : Bâtiment 505
Centre Universitaire d’Orsay – 91405 Orsay Cedex
Place of work : Orsay
Surname : ROCH
THESIS TITLE : Coupling NV centers in diamond to single-wall carbon nanotubes
ABSTRACT :
Sensing relying on the response of a single atom can be considered as the ultimate tool for investigating condensed
matter systems. The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color center in diamond, which consists of a nitrogen atom as a
substitutional impurity in the diamond lattice bonded to a nearest neighbor vacant site, behaves as an artificial atom
hosted in a solid-state matrix.
Due to its perfectly stable photoluminescence and its electron spin which can be read-out and manipulated as an
elementary quantum system, the NV center has found a wide panel of applications either as a qubit for quantum
information or as a sensing device. Sensing tasks can be performed by using NV centers in nanodiamonds [1], the
nanocrystal providing important assets such as the size and the flexibility. For instance, nanodiamonds can be
picked up using the tip of an atomic force microscope (AFM). Once the nanodiamond is grafted at the apex of the
tip, the AFM allows the accurate positioning of the NV center to the structure of interest [2].
The goal of the thesis will be to couple a NV center to a single-wall carbon nanotube (CNT) which consists of a
single atomic layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice, then wrapped up to create a tube. This
unidimensional system is typically a few microns long, and 2 to 3 nm wide. It can carry currents with intensity I in
the A range, which generates at a distance r =20 nm a magnetic field B=0I/(2r) with a magnitude around 10 T.
The detection of magnetic fields of such magnitude is within the sensitivity of state-of-the-art nanodiamond-based
magnetometers exploiting the electron spin response of a NV center in a diamond nanocrystal [3]. The coupling of
the NV center to the CNT will then be applied to probe the electric transport properties in the nanotube, with the
objective to detect the spin of a single electron once trapped inside a CNT.
References of the team related to the PhD subject:
[1] L. Rondin, G. Dantelle, A. Slablab, F. Grosshans, F. Treussart, P. Bergonzo, S. Perruchas, T. Gacoin, M.
Chaigneau, H.-C. Chang, V. Jacques, and J.-F. Roch, “Surface-induced charge state conversion of nitrogen-vacancy
defects in nanodiamonds”, Phys. Rev. B 82, 115449 (2010).
[2] L. Rondin, J.-P. Tetienne, S. Rohart, A. Thiaville, T. Hingant, P. Spinicelli, J.-F. Roch, and V. Jacques, “Stray-field
imaging of magnetic vortices with a single diamond spin”, Nature Comm. 4, 2279 (2013).
[3] L. Rondin, J.-P. Tetienne, T. Hingant, J.-F. Roch, P. Maletinsky, and V. Jacques, “Magnetometry with nitrogenvacancy defects in diamond”, Rep. Prog. Phys. 77, 056503 (2014).
Contacts:
Jean-François Roch (jean-francois.roch@ens-cachan.fr) – Laboratoire Aimé Cotton
Jean-Sébastien Lauret (jean-sebastien.lauret@ens-cachan.fr) – Laboratoire Aimé Cotton
Keys words : NV center, nanodiamond, magnetic resonance, carbon nanotube
Application to a fellowship of EDOM : YES