Electron Paramagnetic Resonance signature of point defects in neutron irradiated hexagonal Boron Nitride

Abstract

Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is an attractive van der Waals material for studying fluorescent defects due to its large bandgap. In this work, we demonstrate enhanced pink color due to neutron irradiation and perform electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) measurements. The new point defects are tentatively assigned to doubly- occupied nitrogen vacancies with (S = 1) and a zero-field splitting (D = 1.2 GHz). These defects are associated with a broad visible optical absorption band and near infrared photoluminescence band centered at ~ 490 nm and 820 nm, respectively. The EPR signal intensities are strongly affected by thermal treatments in temperature range between 600 to 800°C, where also the irradiation - induced pink color is lost. Our results are important for understanding of point defects in h-BN and their deployment for quantum and integrated photonic applications.

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• Optically-active spin defects in few-layer thick hexagonal boron nitride
• Giant shift upon strain on the fluorescence spectrum of V${}_{\mathrm{N}}$N${}_{\mathrm{B}}$ color centers in $h$-BN
• Probing the Optical Dynamics of Quantum Emitters in Hexagonal Boron Nitride
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• Creation and Microscopic Origins of Single-Photon Emitters in Transition Metal Dichalcogenides and Hexagonal Boron Nitride
• Optimisation of electron irradiation for creating spin ensembles in hexagonal boron nitride
• Quantifying the creation of negatively charged boron vacancies in He-ion irradiated hexagonal boron nitride
• Temperature-dependent energy-level shifts of Spin Defects in hexagonal Boron Nitride
• Engineering spin defects in hexagonal boron nitride
• Decoherence of V${}_{\mathrm{B}}^{-}$ spin defects in monoisotopic hexagonal boron nitride
• Properties of quantum emitters in different hBN sample types particularly suited for nanophotonic integration