Issue 4, 2019

Controlling the fluorescence properties of nitrogen vacancy centers in nanodiamonds

Abstract

Control over the formation and fluorescence properties of nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in nanodiamonds (NDs) is an important factor for their use in medical and sensor applications. However, reports providing a deep understanding of the potential factors influencing these properties are rare and focus only on a few influencing factors. The current contribution targets this issue and we report a comprehensive study of the fluorescence properties of NVs in nanodiamonds as a function of electron irradiation fluence and surface termination. Here we show that process parameters such as defect center interactions, in particular, different nitrogen defects and radiation induced lattice defects, as well as surface functionalities have a strong influence on the fluorescence intensity, fluorescence lifetime and the charge state ratio of the NV centers. By employing a time-correlated single photon counting approach we also established a method for fast macroscopic monitoring of the fluorescence properties of ND samples. We found that the fluorescence properties of NV centers may be controlled or even tuned depending upon the radiation treatment, annealing, and surface termination.

Graphical abstract: Controlling the fluorescence properties of nitrogen vacancy centers in nanodiamonds

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
26 Sep 2018
Accepted
06 Dec 2018
First published
11 Dec 2018

Nanoscale, 2019,11, 1770-1783

Controlling the fluorescence properties of nitrogen vacancy centers in nanodiamonds

C. Laube, T. Oeckinghaus, J. Lehnert, J. Griebel, W. Knolle, A. Denisenko, A. Kahnt, J. Meijer, J. Wrachtrup and B. Abel, Nanoscale, 2019, 11, 1770 DOI: 10.1039/C8NR07828A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements