Back cover:

Creation of colour centres in diamond by collimated ion-implantation through nano-channels in mica (Phys. Status Solidi A 9/2011).

S. Pezzagna^*, D. Rogalla, H.-W. Becker, I. Jakobi, F. Dolde, B. Naydenov, J. Wrachtrup, F. Jelezko, C. Trautmann, J. Meijer.

The fabrication of scalable quantum devices in diamond relies on the ability to produce optical centres with a high spatial resolution. Ion implantation is the most powerful technique for placing impurity atoms in a diamond matrix. Pezzagna et al. (pp. 2017–2022) present a novel approach by implanting ions through a mask with high-aspect-ratio nano-channels and improve the collimation to below 50 nm. The mask contains parallel oriented channels of a few tens of nm in diameter. They are produced by exposing mica sheets to GeV heavy ion projectiles and subsequent track etching. The high-resolution creation of deep nitrogenvacancy centres in diamond by implanting nitrogen ions through the nano-channels is demonstrated.