Magnetic properties of red diamonds produced by high-temperature electron irradiation

The magnetization of crystalline red diamond bulk samples were investigated in the temperature range between 2 K and 125 K and with the applied maximal magnetic field of ±7 T. The investigated diamond samples are of Type Ib with a nitrogen content less than 200 ppm. Diamonds without any treatment display a yellow color and were transformed to red color after irradiation with 10 MeV electrons at T = 900 °C, in vacuum, owing to the formation of nitrogen-vacancy centers. Field dependent magnetization m(H) measurements for temperatures T ≲ 10 K show unusual hysteresis loops, which we interpret as consequence of the superposition of coexisting superconducting and paramagnetic regions present in the sample. Temperature dependence of the magnetization m(T) measured in the zero field and field cooled modus shows a paramagnetic behavior accompanied with an irreversibility for T ≲ 13 K, while at higher temperatures shows a diamagnetic behavior which is similar to undoped diamond. Coexistence of superconductivity and paramagnetism is established because both phenomena exist in the same temperature range and fits done to the m(H) using an equation based upon Bean model, support our conclusion. Room temperature confocal photoluminescence measurements were done on both yellow and red diamond, showing that in the red diamond the amount of neutral NV° and negative charged nitrogen-vacancy centers NV° have been significantly created. The transformation process from yellow to red diamond has mainly caused the alteration of the superparamagnetic regions into paramagnetic, while the superconducting contribution of the sample was less affected, according to the parameters obtained after we fitted the field dependent magnetization results.