Substrate-Assisted Cathodoluminescence
arXiv:2509.01518 · doi:10.1038/s44310-026-00116-6
Abstract
Electron-beam-induced luminescence typically relies on direct excitation by high energy primary electrons. Here, we explore properties of an alternative excitation approach where cathodoluminescence (CL) is driven by substrate-generated electrons rather than by the primary electron beam. Using color centers in diamond as sensitive and durable local probes, we investigate the spatial profiles of such indirect CL in different geometries and substrates. Photon-correlation experiments demonstrate increased synchronization of emitters at reduced currents, which we propose as a method for extracting the effective indirect excitation currents experienced by the emitters. This approach enables the estimation of remarkably low currents, down to 0.1 pA, highlighting the potential of substrate-assisted excitation for minimally invasive probing of sensitive emitters in CL microscopy.
References in corpus (8)
- Optical excitations in electron microscopy
- Electron Beam Spectroscopy for Nanophotonics
- Spatially resolved quantum nano-optics of single photons using an electron microscope
- Cathodoluminescence excitation spectroscopy: nanoscale imaging of excitation pathways
- Colossal photon bunching in quasiparticle-mediated nanodiamond cathodoluminescence
- Sub-to-super-Poissonian photon statistics in cathodoluminescence of color center ensembles in isolated diamond crystals
- Unveiling the nature of cathodoluminescence from photon statistics
- An atlas of photonic and plasmonic materials for cathodoluminescence microscopy