Depletion of nitrogen-vacancy color centers in diamond via hydrogen passivation

We show reduction in the emission from nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in single crystal diamond due to exposure to hydrogen plasmas ranging from 700 C to 1000 C. Significant fluorescence reduction was observed beneath the exposed surface to 80 m depth after ∼10 min and did not recover after post-annealing in vacuum for 7 h at 1100 C. We attribute the fluorescence reduction to the formation of nitrogen-vacancy-hydrogen centers by the plasma-induced diffusion of hydrogen. These results have important implications for the formation of NV centers for quantum applications, whilst also providing experimental evidence of long range hydrogen diffusion through intrinsic high-purity diamond.