Electron spin resonance investigation of ion-irradiated diamond

Temperature-dependent electron spin resonance (ESR) measurements have been used to investigate the properties of ion-irradiated diamond. We demonstrate that ESR has the potential for use as a contactless method to deduce the electrical behaviour of diamond irradiated with low levels of damage, in regimes where the resistance is too high to be reliably measured using direct methods. The results demonstrate that even for very low doses, variable-range hopping conductivity dominates the electrical behaviour.