Photochromic charge transfer processes in natural pink and brown diamonds

Abstract

Natural pink and brown diamonds exhibit surprising photochromic phenomena when optically pumped with ultraviolet light of photon energy epsilon ≥ 4.1 eV, including a subsequent sensitivity to infrared pumps, which is not evident prior to UV exposure. In this study, we observe the dependence of photochromism on pump photon energy and intensity, for both UV and IR pumps. From these observations, we propose a model of several distinct charge transfer processes between multiple species of optically active defect centres. We show it is likely that the UV-induced behaviour of pink diamond photochromism is linked to the vacancy clusters responsible for brown colouration in diamonds.