Electroluminescence from nitrogen-vacancy and interstitial-related centers in bulk diamond stimulated by ion-beam-fabricated sub-superficial graphitic micro-electrodes

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a diamond device with embedded graphitic micro-electrodes that electrically stimulates electroluminescence from nitrogen-vacancy centers and interstitial defects, revealing new emission lines and potential for quantum applications.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method to electrically excite defect centers in diamond using ion-beam-fabricated micro-electrodes, with detailed characterization of electroluminescence and defect-related emissions.

Findings

Electroluminescence from NV0 centers was successfully stimulated.

New sharp emission lines at 563 nm and 580 nm were observed.

Device operation required a bias voltage above approximately 300V.

Abstract

We report on the fabrication and characterization of a single-crystal diamond device for the electrical stimula- tion of light emission from nitrogen-vacancy (NV0) and other defect-related centers. Pairs of sub-superficial graphitic micro-electrodes embedded in insulating diamond were fabricated by a 6 MeV C3+ micro-beam irra- diation followed by thermal annealing. A photoluminescence (PL) characterization evidenced a low radiation damage concentration in the inter-electrode gap region, which did not significantly affect the PL features domi- nated by NV centers. The operation of the device in electroluminescence (EL) regime was investigated by ap- plying a bias voltage at the graphitic electrodes, resulting in the injection of a high excitation current above a threshold voltage (~300V), which effectively stimulated an intense EL emission from NV0 centers. In addition, we report on the new observation of two additional sharp EL emission lines (at 563 nm and 580 nm) related to interstitial defects formed during MeV ion beam fabrication.