2017/10/13 by Matthew J. Crane, Bennett E. Smith, Crane, Matthew J. +11
Engineering · Materials Science · #Chemical Physics (physics.chem-ph) #Diamond and Carbon-based Materials Research #FOS: Physical sciences #Laser Material Processing Techniques #Laser-induced spectroscopy and plasma #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1710.05116
openalex publication_date 2017/10/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Nanodiamonds have emerged as promising materials for quantum computing,\nbiolabeling, and sensing due to their ability to host color centers with\nremarkable photostability and long spin-coherence times at room temperature.\nRecently, a bottom-up, high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) approach was\ndemonstrated for growing nanodiamonds with color centers from amorphous carbon\nprecursors in a laser-heated diamond anvil cell (LH-DAC) that was supported by\na near-hydrostatic noble gas pressure medium. However, a detailed understanding\nof the photothermal heating and its effect on diamond growth, including the\nphase conversion conditions and the temperature-dependence of color center\nformation, has not been reported. In this work, we measure blackbody radiation\nduring LH-DAC synthesis of nanodiamond from carbon aerogel to examine these\ntemperature-dependent effects. Blackbody temperature measurements suggest that\nnanodiamond growth can occur at 16.3 GPa and 1800 K. We use Mie theory and\nanalytical heat transport to develop a predictive photothermal heating model.\nThis model demonstrates that melting the noble gas pressure medium during laser\nheating decreases the local thermal conductivity to drive a high spatial\nresolution of phase conversion to diamond. Finally, we observe a\ntemperature-dependent formation of nitrogen vacancy centers and interpret this\nphenomenon in the context of HPHT carbon vacancy diffusion using CB\Ω\ntheory.\n