Fluorescent color-center patterns with a spatial resolution of less than 180nm were written onto the surfaces of synthetic type-Ib crystals by bombardment with focussed ion and electron beams. The patterns were detected and spectroscopically analyzed by using confocal optical microscopy. The activation energy for the diffusion of vacancies was deduced, from the spatial extent of the color-center distribution, to be 2.55eV. Detailed information concerning the formation of color centers was obtained by exploiting the 3-dimensional spatial resolution of the confocal microscope. The distributions of 2 color centers, which were attributed to different charge states of the NV defect, were spatially mapped and were shown to depend strongly upon the irradiation dose.

Generation and Detection of Fluorescent Color Centers in Diamond with Submicron Resolution. J.Martin, R.Wannemacher, J.Teichert, L.Bischoff, B.Köhler: Applied Physics Letters, 1999, 75[20], 3096-8