Window into NV center kinetics via repeated annealing and spatial tracking of thousands of individual NV centers
Window into NV center kinetics via repeated annealing and spatial tracking of thousands of individual NV centers
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DOI：
10.1103/physrevmaterials.4.023402
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发表时间：
2020-02-25
影响因子：
3.4
通讯作者：
Fu, Kai-Mei C.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Chakravarthi, Srivatsa;Moore, Chris;Fu, Kai-Mei C.
Knowledge of the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center formation kinetics in diamond is critical to engineering sensors and quantum information devices based on this defect. Here we utilize the longitudinal tracking of single NV centers to elucidate NV defect kinetics during high-temperature annealing from 800-1100 degrees C in high-purity chemical-vapor-deposition diamond. We observe three phenomena which can coexist: NV formation, NV quenching, and NV orientation changes. Of relevance to NV-based applications, a 6- to 24-fold enhancement in the NV density, in the absence of sample irradiation, is observed by annealing at 980 degrees C, and NV orientation changes are observed at 1050 degrees C. With respect to the fundamental understanding of defect kinetics in ultrapure diamond, our results indicate a significant vacancy source can be activated for NV creation between 950-980 degrees C and suggest that native hydrogen from NVHy complexes plays a dominant role in NV quenching, supported by recent ab initio calculations. Finally, the direct observation of orientation changes allows us to estimate an NV diffusion barrier of 4.7 +/- 0.9 eV.
