Exploring the silicon vacancy centre in CVD grown nanodiamond for near-resonant optical trapping

The focus of this thesis is the fabrication of diamond nanocrystals containing many Silicon Vacancy (SiV) centres. Firstly, we grow via chemical vapour deposition (CVD) a 200−µmthick diamond film on a silicon substrate. From this film, we produce diamond nanocrystals by means of ball milling. We characterize the physical and optical properties of the nanodia- mond sample with a lab-built integrated confocal and atomic force microscope. We find thatthe fabricated nanodiamonds have an average size of ∼160 nm and contain SiV centres witha zero phonon line centred at 739 nm and an average inhomogeneus spectral line broadening of ∼12 nm. Secondly, we employ the fabricated nanodiamonds containing SiV centres to investigate a new type of optical trapping in liquid. This method exploits near-resonant dipole forces due to the atomic transition of the SiV centres and results in detuning-dependent attractiveand repulsive forces in the vicinity of the atomic transition.