Germanium-vacancy color center in isotopically enriched diamonds synthesized at high pressures1)
E. A. Ekimov+, S. G. Lyapin+, K. N. Boldyrev*, M. V. Kondrin+, R. Khmelnitskiy×, V. A. Gavva°, T. V. Kotereva°, M. N. Popova* 2)
+Institute for High Pressure Physics of the RAS, 142190 Troitsk, Russia
*Institute of Spectroscopy of the RAS, 142190 Troitsk, Russia
×Lebedev Physics Institute of the RAS, 117924 Moscow, Russia
°Institute of Chemistry of High-Purity Substances of the RAS, 603950 Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
Abstract
We report on the high-pressure synthesis of
novel nano- and microcrystalline diamonds with germanium-vacancy
(Ge-V) color centers emitting at 602 nm. The synthesis was carried out
in non-metallic growth systems C-H-Ge and C-H-O-Ge enriched with
germanium and carbon isotopes. We demonstrate germanium and carbon
isotope shifts in the fine structure of the luminescence, which allows us
to unambiguously associate the center with the germanium impurity
entering into the diamond lattice. We show that there are two
ground-state energy levels with the separation of 0.7 meV and
two excited-state levels separated by 4.6 meV in the
electronic structure of the center and suggest a split-vacancy
structure of this center. High-intensity and narrow-line
emission of high-pressure synthesized small diamonds
with Ge-V centers makes them promising candidates
for single-photon emitters.