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A polished plate of type Ia natural diamond, containing regions which had been bombarded by electrons of energy between 2.0 and 4.5 GeV to total doses of ~1024 electrons m−2 in polarized-photon production experiments, was examined, both before and after annealing at 1133 K for 8 h, using birefringence, cathodoluminescence photography and spectroscopy, X-ray topography and a novel method for mapping differences of interplanar spacing; `dilatation topography'. The annealing effected some reduction of overall strain, but it also generated an enhancement of diffraction contrast and cathodoluminescence at certain grown-in defects that the specimen contained. By means of dilatation topographs, interplanar spacings in a region of maximum electron-beam damage were compared with those in least-damaged regions some millimetres away. In the case of (110) planes that had been grazed by the electron beam, the maximum relative expansion, Δd/d, in damaged regions so found was reduced from 1.2 × 10−3 to 0.9 × 10−3 by the annealing. Evidence was obtained that the magnitude of expansion in the region of maximum damage was dependent upon crystallographic direction. Criteria are suggested for selection of diamonds to be used in polarized-photon production experiments.
