Effect of Electron Irradiation Dose on the Superluminescence of NV¯ and C Centers in High-Pressure High-Temperature Diamond
摘要
We report an investigation of spectral and temporal properties of NV¯ centers in diamond plates fabricated from a single HPHT crystal but subjected to different electron irradiation doses during postgrowth processing. Samples 52734-1 and 52734-2, each with approximately the same nitrogen concentration of 60 ppm, are irradiated with doses of 1 and 2 × 1018 e‒/cm2, respectively. Particular attention is paid to the effect of irradiation dose on the concentration of NV¯ centers and the associated changes in the spectral and temporal properties of superluminescence under identical conditions of optical excitation with laser radiation at a wavelength of 532 nm. Analysis of the absorption spectra reveals that doubling the irradiation dose results in a 1.4-fold increase in the concentration of NV¯ centers—from 7.7 to 10.9 ppm—with a corresponding decrease in the concentration of isolated nitrogen centers (C centers)—from 49 to 43 ppm. The results demonstrate a nonlinear dependence of the increase in the concentration of NV¯ centers on the irradiation dose and make it possible to identify key characteristics of the samples and pumping conditions that determine the efficiency of superluminescence. Specifically, doubling the irradiation dose results in a threefold increase in the spectral intensity and a significant decrease in the duration of the superluminescence pulses. It is found that to achieve efficient superluminescence, it is important not only to have a significant excess of the concentration of C centers over the concentration of NV¯ centers, but also the absolute concentration of NV¯ centers and pump parameters such as the energy density of the pump pulses and the volume of the sample with a population inversion.