Microstructural and Optical Emission Properties of Diamond Multiply Twinned Particles

Abstract

Multiply twinned particles, MTPs, are fascinating crystallographic entities with a number of controllable properties originating from their symmetry and cyclic structure. In the focus of our studies are diamond MTPs hosting optically active defects, objects demonstrating a high application potential for emerging optoelectronic and quantum devices. In this work, we discuss the growth mechanisms along with the microstructural and optical properties of the MTPs aggregating high-density of silicon-vacancy complexes on the specific crystal irregularities. It is demonstrated that the silicon impurities incite a rapid growth of MTPs via intensive formation of penetration twins on 100 facets of regular octahedral grains. We also show that the zero-phonon-line emission from the Si color centers embedded in the twin boundaries dominates in photo- and electroluminescence spectra of the MTP-based light-emitting devices defining their steady-state optical properties.