Photoluminescent nanodiamonds: Comparison of the photoluminescence saturation properties of the NV color center and a cyanine dye at the single emitter level, and study of the color center concentration under different preparation conditions

Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) color centers in diamond nanoparticles (NanoDiamonds, NDs) have a great number of applications, in particular in quantum information processing and as cellular fluorescent labels. In this work we compare the photoluminescence properties of a single NV color center embedded in a 30 nm diameter nanodiamond to that of a single organic fluorescent molecule. We also study the photoluminescence properties of NDs prepared under different conditions in order to find the optimal parameters to achieve a high fluorescence yield, which is still an open question in the case of nanocrystals compared to bulk diamond. The results of this study are of interest for the applications of small and bright diamond nanoparticles in nanophotonics and biology.