Dark defect charge dynamics in bulk chemical-vapor-deposition-grown diamonds probed via nitrogen vacancy centers

Although chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is one of the preferred routes to synthetic diamond crystals, a full knowledge of the point defects produced during growth is still incomplete. Here we exploit the charge and spin properties of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in type-1b CVD diamond to expose an optically and magnetically dark point defect, so far virtually unnoticed despite an abundance comparable to (if not greater than) that of substitutional nitrogen. Indirectly-detected photo-luminescence spectroscopy indicates a donor state 1.6 eV above the valence band, although the defect's microscopic structure and composition remain elusive. Our results may prove relevant to the growing set of applications that rely on CVD-grown single crystal diamond.