‘Natural’ and ‘man-made’ platelets in type-Ia diamonds

Abstract

‘Natural’ platelets are planar defects in {001} planes found in natural type-IaA/B diamonds. ‘Man-made’ platelets are platelets formed in the laboratory by annealing type-IaA diamonds at temperatures over 2500°C. Careful study shows that the infrared (IR) spectra of the ‘man-made’ platelets are different from the IR spectra of ‘natural’ platelets. High-temperature (T ≥ 2000°C) annealing of platelets containing type-IaA/B diamonds modifies the IR absorption spectrum owing to the ‘natural’ platelets and makes it similar to the IR spectrum of the ‘man-made’ platelets. It is suggested that such high-temperature annealing changes the structure of the ‘natural’ platelets. The changes are too subtle to be detected by electron microscopy techniques. Topographic electron-energy-loss spectroscopy shows that platelets contain nitrogen at an average density of 0.7 atoms per a ² ₀; however, high-temperature annealing does not seem to affect the concentration of the nitrogen in the platelets.