Quantitative analysis of spectral characteristics and concentration of ensembles of NV− centers in diamond

Abstract

On account of their outstanding photo-luminescence properties, NV− (nitrogen-vacancy) centers in diamond make possible the high-sensitivity detection of physical quantities. The concentration of NV− centers is one of the main factors that affect the sensitivity in detecting macroscopic physical quantities. This paper studied and analyzed the relationship between the dose of electron irradiation and the concentration of NV− centers. We found that after electron irradiation into diamond, luminescence centers of 524.7nm, 541.1nm, 578nm and 648.1nm were formed, which is necessary for producing NV− centers. After annealing at high temperature (≥800°C) and in vacuum (≥10−7Pa) on diamond, NV− centers were formed when vacancies were bound by nitrogen atoms. We also obtained the rules of NV− concentration as a function of electron irradiation, which followed Boltzmann distribution. In addition, the number of NV− produced by electron injection was limited by 16ppm for diamond with a nitrogen content of 100ppm regardless of the increment of vacancies concentration. This study is the basis of quantitative preparation of NV−centers, and further lays a foundation for the application of NV− centers to the precise measurement of macroscopic physical qualities.