Thin Circular Diamond Membrane with Embedded Nitrogen-Vacancy Centers for Hybrid Spin-Mechanical Quantum Systems

Coupling mechanical degrees of freedom to single well-controlled quantum systems has become subject to intense research recently. Here, we report on the design, fabrication, and characterization of a diamond architecture consisting of a high-quality thin circular diamond membrane with embedded near-surface nitrogen-vacancy centers (NVCs). To demonstrate this architecture, we employ the NVCs by means of their optical and spin interfaces as nanosensors of the motion of the membrane under static pressure and in-resonance vibration. We also monitor the static residual stress within the membrane using the same method. Driving the membrane at its fundamental resonance mode, we observe coupling of this vibrational mode to the spin of the NVCs. Our realization of this architecture can manifest the applications of diamond structures in 3D piezometry such as mechanobiology and vibrometry, as well as mechanically mediated spin-spin coupling in quantum-information science.