Zero field line in the magnetic spectra of negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond

The dependence of the luminescence of diamonds with negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy centers (NV-) vs. applied magnetic field (magnetic spectrum) was studied. A narrow line in zero magnetic field was discovered. The properties of this line are considerably different from those of other narrow magnetic spectrum lines. Its magnitude is weakly dependent of the orientation of the single-crystal sample to the external magnetic field. This line is also observed in a powdered sample. The shape of the line changes greatly when excitation light polarization is varied. The magnitude of the line has a non-linear relation to excitation light intensity. For low intensities this dependence is close to a square law. To explain the mechanism giving rise to this line in the magnetic spectrum, we suggest a model based on the dipole-dipole interaction between different NV- centers.