Ultrafast phonon-mediated dephasing of color centers in hexagonal boron nitride probed by electron beams.

ABSTRACT: Defect centers in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) have been extensively studied as room-temperature single-photon sources. The electronic structure of these defects exhibits strong coupling to phonons, as evidenced by the observation of phonon sidebands in both photoluminescence and cathodoluminescence spectra. However, the dynamics of the electron-phonon coupling as well as phonon-mediated dephasing of the color centers in hBN remain unexplored. Here, we apply a novel time-resolved CL spectroscopy technique to explore the population decay to phonon states and the dephasing time T₂ with sub-femtosecond time resolution. We demonstrate an ultrafast dephasing time of only 200 fs and a radiative decay of about 585 fs at room temperature, in contrast with all-optical time-resolved phot

SUBMITTER: Taleb M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11890617 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature