Optical and spin coherence properties of nitrogen-vacancy centers placed in a 100 nm thick isotopically purified diamond layer.

We have studied optical and spin properties of near-surface nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers incorporated during chemical vapor phase growth of isotopically purified (12)C single-crystal diamond layers. The spectral diffusion-limited line width of zero-phonon luminescence from the NV centers is 1.2 ± 0.5 GHz, a considerable improvement over that of NV centers formed by ion implantation and annealing. Enhanced spin dephasing times (T(2)* ≈ 90 μs, T(2) ≈ 1.7 ms) due to the reduction of (13)C nuclear spins persist even for NV centers placed within 100 nm of the surface.