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UV-induced charge-state conversion from the negatively to neutrally charged nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond

MetadataDetails
Publication Date2022-12-01
JournalJournal of Applied Physics
AuthorsChenrong Li, Qingyu Zhang, Nan Zhou, B. Hu, C. Y.
InstitutionsChina Academy of Space Technology, Dalian University of Technology
Citations5

Under ultraviolet (UV) excitation with photon energy larger than 4.5 eV, a charge-state conversion from negatively to neutrally charged nitrogen-vacancy (NVāˆ’ to NV0) centers in diamond samples is realized. The UV-induced charge-state conversion is found to strongly depend on the N concentration in the sample and the irradiation fluence of the electron beam. For the samples with high N concentrations, low-fluence (2.5 Ɨ 1017 cmāˆ’2) 10-MeV electron beam irradiation usually leads to UV-induced charge-state conversion efficiency higher than that of the samples irradiated with high fluences (≄2.5 Ɨ 1018 cmāˆ’2). For the samples with a few ppm N, however, the charge-state conversion efficiency is relatively low in the cases of irradiation fluences in this work. Meanwhile, UV-induced NV0 luminescence exhibits temperature dependence different from that of visible-light excited NV0 or NVāˆ’ centers; that is, the photoluminescence intensity does not reach saturation at temperatures lower than 135 K but decreases with the decrease in temperature. Based on the photoluminescence excitation spectra of NV0 centers in the UV region, the UV-induced charge-state conversion is suggested to involve free-hole generation, diffusion, and the capture by ground-state NVāˆ’ centers.