Abstract
In this paper, we analyse the prospects for using nitrogen-vacancy centre (NV) containing diamond as a laser gain material by measuring its key laser related parameters. Synthetic chemical vapour deposition grown diamond samples with an NV concentration of ~1 ppm have been selected because of their relatively high NV concentration and low background absorption in comparison to other samples available to us. For the samples measured, the luminescence lifetimes of the NV- and NV0 centres were measured to be 8 ± 1 ns and 20 ± 1 ns, respectively. The respective peak stimulated emission cross-sections were (3.6 ± 0.1) × 10−17 cm2 and (1.7 ± 0.1) × 10−17 cm2. These measurements were combined with absorption measurements to calculate the gain spectra for NV- and NV0 for differing inversion levels. Such calculations indicate that gains approaching those required for laser operation may be possible with one of the samples tested and for the NV- centre.
Highlights
Diamond has a range of properties that make it interesting for laser engineering
We present a detailed study of the laser-related spectroscopic properties of diamond containing NV0 and nitrogen-vacancy centre (NV)- colour centres (CC)
In this paper the key laser-related spectroscopic parameters of NV- and NV0 CC in diamond have been measured in two samples with CC concentrations around the level that might be required for future laser operation (~1 ppm)
Summary
Diamond has a range of properties that make it interesting for laser engineering. The thermal conductivity of pure diamond (2200 W/m K [1]), its rigidity (Young’s modulus ~1100 GPa) and tensile strength (2.8 GPa) are significantly superior to commonly used laser gain materials [1, 2]. Single crystal diamond samples of high optical quality are typically restricted to a few mm in length, and >50% pump absorption would typically be desired for laser applications. Assuming a 2 mm long crystal (a typical length of a reasonably priced high quality synthetic diamond) and targeting a pump absorption of at least 50% at 532 nm, the required concentration of NV- is ~1 × 1017 cm−3 or ~0.6 parts per million (ppm) (1 ppm in diamond corresponds to a concentration of 1.77 × 1017 cm−3). The concentration of single substitutional nitrogen (Ns0) in this sample was estimated to be 7 ± 1 ppm from the Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrum measured using a Perkin Elmer Spectrum-GX instrument and the methodology described in [27] This makes it potentially suitable for generating ppm levels of NV centres without excessive residual single nitrogen. A significantly higher concentration of NV0 in sample E6NV (0.7 ppm) results in stronger absorption in the phonon side band at ~520 nm in comparison with that of the sample E6H3D after treatment (Fig. 2)
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