Native and induced triplet nitrogen-vacancy centers in nano- and micro-diamonds: Half-field electron paramagnetic resonance fingerprint

Multiple frequency electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) study of small (4–25 nm) nanodiamonds obtained by various dynamic synthesis techniques reveals systematic presence in the half-field (HF) region a distinctive doublet fingerprint consisting of resolved gHF1 = 4.26 and gHF2 = 4.00 signals. This feature is attributed to "forbidden" ΔMS = 2 transitions in EPR spectra of two native paramagnetic centers of triplet (S = 1) origin designated as TR1 and TR2, characterized by zero field splitting values D1 = 0.0950 ± 0.002 cm−1 and D2 = 0.030 ± 0.005 cm−1. Nanodiamonds of ∼50 nm particle size, obtained by crushing of Ib type nitrogen rich synthetic diamonds, show only HF TR2 signal whereas the same sample undergone high energy (20 MeV) electron irradiation and thermal annealing demonstrates rise of HF TR1 signal. The same HF TR1 signals appear in the process of fabrication of fluorescent nanodiamonds from micron-size synthetic diamond precursors. Results obtained allow unambiguous attribution of the half-field TR1 EPR signals with gHF1 = 4.26, observed in nano- and micron-diamond powders, to triplet negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy centers. These signals are proposed as reliable and convenient fingerprints in both qualitative and quantitative study of fluorescent nano- and micron-diamonds