The calculated energies and charge and spin distributions of the excited GR1 state in diamond.

Abstract

This paper reports the energies and charge and spin distributions of both the vertically excited and fully relaxed GR1 states of the neutral singlet vacancy in diamond obtained from direct Δ-SCF calculations used previously to describe the low-lying excited states in AFII NiO and α-Al2O3. The calculations are based on the B3LYP functional in its standard form, with a C basis set that is identical to that which was used previously in numerous calculations of the ground state properties of defective diamond. Both the vertically excited and thermally relaxed GR1 states are predicted to be excitonic and insulating, with extensive re-distribution of charge and spin density and back-donation to the donor site. The present calculations suggest that the triplet state makes no contribution to the GR1 excitation. The predicted energy of the zero phonon line (1.57eV) compares with the observed value of 1.67eV, which also suggests that the GR1 state is neutral. The bandgaps lead to an estimate of the next higher (GR2) excited state energy, which is close to that found in the observed spectra. Similar calculations are used to predict the energies of the higher gap states at (5.0-5.5) eV, including the bulk value of 7.3eV, which compares with the experimental value of (7.3-7.4) eV. An explanation is suggested as to why only the GR1 luminescence is observed. This paper also suggests an alternative channel for the recovery of the ground state in photoluminescence studies.