Luminescence in diamonds of the Sao Luiz placer (Brazil)

Plates made of diamonds from the Sao Luiz province (Brazil) were investigated by confocal scanning luminescence microscopy. The samples have many macroinhomogeneities (cracks and inclusions), but there is a quasi-uniform distribution of luminescence centers in the bulk. At all investigated points of the crystals, the same group of centers was observed: N3, H4, 575, and a red band with a maximum at 690-700 nm. The visible nonuniformities in the distribution of luminescence over the area of the plates are determined by relatively small fluctuations in the ratio of the intensities of individual bands in the spectra. Nitrogen centers of different degrees of aggregation (H4, N3, and 575 nm, with four, three, and one nitrogen atom, respectively) coexist in these crystals. In the same zones of the samples, the distribution of blue luminescence (N3 centers) is diffuse (uniform), but the distribution of yellow-green luminescence is characterized by layering on (111). This might be a consequence of the tangential growth of octahedron faces or a result of plastic deformation of the crystals and dislocations along (111).