Morphology of Nanocarbon Particles Formed during the Laser Cutting and Polishing of Diamond

The morphology of nanocarbon particles formed on the {100} diamond surface as a result of laser cutting with a pulsed laser with a wavelength of 532 nm, a pulse duration of 200 ns and an energy of 0.5 mJ, at a frequency of 15 kHz and subsequent polishing with the same parameters is studied by scanning electron microscopy. The structure of the graphitized layer obtained as a result of laser cutting is of interest in with the context of the previously discovered ferromagnetic properties of such layers. The characteristic sizes of the resulting microparticles (globules) are ~0.5–1.0 μm; they are formed from smaller elements with a transverse size of ~10 nm. The close-to-spherical shape of the microparticles and their mutual arrangement indicate their growth in the process of the pulsed-laser graphitization of the diamond surface. As a result of laser polishing of the graphitized surface layer, mainly nanoparticles with a size of ~100 nm or less, which also have ferromagnetic properties, are retained on the diamond surface. The conducted studies allow us to further reveal the nature of the ferromagnetic properties of graphitized structures obtained in this way on the surface of diamond.