High-temperature annealing of optical centers in type-I diamond

Diamonds previously subjected to radiation damage have been annealed at temperatures up to 1750°C at ambient pressure, and at 2300°C using a stabilizing pressure of 5GPa. The results have been compared with those from similar measurements using natural brown diamonds. The investigation has led to an improved understanding of the commercial process for enhancing the color of brown diamonds by high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) annealing. The study has confirmed that the H4 center is less stable than the H3 center, and shown that the destruction of the H4 center in irradiated type-IaB diamonds coincides with the formation of a number of optical centers found to occur naturally in brown diamonds. In type-IaA diamonds the annealing out of the H1b absorption coincides with the production of H2 centers. Annealing measurements on brown diamonds indicate that the plastic deformation, associated with the brown color, occurred at a late stage in the diamonds’ history. Optical centers, such as H3 and (NV)−, that are produced in brown diamonds by HPHT annealing, are destroyed by this process in irradiated dislocation-free diamonds. Formation of these centers during the HPHT annealing of brown diamonds occurs as a result of the release of vacancies from the dislocations, and the present results therefore indicate that the production of these centers is a dynamic process with the generation and annealing in competition.