Luminescent Defects in a Few-Layer <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline" overflow="scroll"><mml:mi>h</mml:mi></mml:math>-BN Film Grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy

Abstract

Defects in hexagonal boron nitride ($h$-BN) are sources of single photons, even at room temperature, and creating $h$-BN films by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) is promising for applications, as this allows the deposition of $h$-BN on various substrates. The authors show that $h$-BN films grown by MBE do contain defects that emit in both the ultraviolet and visible spectral ranges, and are localized within multilayer islands that form at the nucleation centers of the film. These luminescent defects have real potential as quantum light sources in optoelectronic devices based on epitaxial combination of dissimilar two-dimensional materials.