{
  "abstract": "Negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV$^-$) centers located a few nanometers below the diamond surface are key quantum defects for nanoscale sensing of external spins. However, the creation of shallow NV$^-$ centers with high yield remains a materials challenge. Here, we demonstrate that high-angle ion implantation enhances the creation efficiency of shallow NV$^-$ centers. By implanting $^{15}$N ions at angles exceeding 60$^\\circ$, we achieve high NV$^-$ yields approaching 10% with effective NV$^-$ depths below 10 nm. These yields are significantly higher than those typically reported for shallow NV$^-$ creation. The enhanced NV$^-$ yield is consistent with an increased vacancy-to-nitrogen ratio in the near-surface region, which is expected to promote NV formation during annealing. The created NV$^-$ ensembles show coherence properties comparable to those of single shallow NV$^-$ centers at similar depths, and allow detection of nuclear spins in van der Waals materials attached to the diamond surface. Our results establish geometric control of ion implantation as a simple and broadly applicable approach to engineer shallow vacancy-related quantum defects.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": "Journal reference: Phys. Rev. Materials 10, 086202 (2026)",
  "arxiv": "2609.22937",
  "author_total": 6,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Kento Sasaki"
    },
    {
      "name": "Hideyuki Watanabe"
    },
    {
      "name": "Tokuyuki Teraji"
    },
    {
      "name": "Takashi Taniguchi"
    },
    {
      "name": "Kenji Watanabe"
    },
    {
      "name": "Kensuke Kobayashi"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/95h8c711j0ffe.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2609.22937",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "95h8c711j0ffe",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.22937",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "LicenseRef-arXiv-nonexclusive-1.0",
  "licence_label": "arXiv licence",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "cond-mat.mtrl-sci"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "quant-ph"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2609.22937",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-19",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/95h8c711j0ffe.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:23:19Z",
      "native_id": "2609.22937",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.22937"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:cond-mat.mtrl-sci",
      "subfield": "condensed-matter"
    },
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:quant-ph",
      "subfield": "quantum"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Efficient creation of shallow NV$^-$ ensembles by high-angle ion implantation",
  "title_text": "Efficient creation of shallow NV^- ensembles by high-angle ion implantation",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:23:19Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/95h8c711j0ffe",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": [
    {
      "doi": "10.1103/d8vg-ntsg",
      "pid": null,
      "relation": "published-as",
      "title": null,
      "venue": null
    }
  ]
}