Nanoscale resolved mapping of the dipole emission of hBN color centers with a scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscope.

ABSTRACT: Color centers in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) are promising candidates as quantum light sources for future technologies. In this work, we utilize a scattering-type near-field optical microscope (s-SNOM) to study the photoluminescence (PL) emission characteristics of such quantum emitters in metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy grown hBN. On the one hand, we demonstrate direct near-field optical excitation and emission through interaction with the nanofocus of the tip resulting in a subdiffraction limited tip-enhanced PL hotspot. On the other hand, we show that indirect excitation and emission via scattering from the tip significantly increases the recorded PL intensity. This demonstrates that the tip-assisted PL (TAPL) process efficiently guides the generated light to the detector. We apply t

SUBMITTER: Niehues I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11831392 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature