Electron paramagnetic resonance of the \(\mathrm{N_{2}V^{-}}\) defect in \(\mathrm{^{15}N}\)-doped synthetic diamond

• Published in: arXiv.org
• Main Authors: Green, Ben L, Dale, Matthew W, Newton, Mark E, Fisher, David
• Format: Paper
• Language: English
• Published: Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 14.10.2015
• Subjects: Diamonds; Donors (electronic); Electron paramagnetic resonance; Nitrogen; Parameter identification
• ISSN: 2331-8422
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1507.07036

Nitrogen is the dominant impurity in the majority of natural and synthetic diamonds, and the family of nitrogen vacancy-type (\(\mathrm{N_{n}V}\)) defects are crucial in our understanding of defect dynamics in these diamonds. A significant gap is the lack of positive identification of \(\mathrm{N_{2}V}^{-}\), the dominant charge state of \(\mathrm{N_{2}V}\), in diamond that contains a significant concentration of electron donors. In this paper we employ isotopically-enriched diamond to identify the EPR spectrum associated with \(^{15}\mathrm{N_{2}V}^{-}\) and use the derived spin Hamiltonian parameters to identify \(^{14}\mathrm{N_{2}V}^{-}\) in a natural isotopic abundance sample. The electronic wavefunction of the \(\mathrm{N_{2}V^{-}}\) ground state and previous lack of identification is discussed. The \(\mathrm{N_{2}V}^{-}\) EPR spectrum intensity is shown to correlate with H2 optical absorption over an order of magnitude in concentration.