Ultraviolet laser pulses reportedly altered diamond defects, while existing nitrogen-vacancy optical signals stayed largely unchanged

Phys.org reports that ultraviolet laser pulses altered diamond defects while existing nitrogen-vacancy centers’ optical signals stayed largely unchanged. The 266-nanometer, 6-nanosecond pulses generated and then depleted 563-nanometer centers associated with self-interstitial defects in one chemical-vapor-deposited diamond. The study measured optical behavior, not qubit performance, and the new centers’ precise atomic structures remain unresolved.