Defect-related photoluminescence of hexagonal boron nitride

Luc Museur (1) , Feldbach Eduard (2) , A.V. Kanaev (3)

1 LPL - Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers
2 Institute of Physics [Tartu]
3 LIMHP - Laboratoire d'Ingénierie des Matériaux et des Hautes Pressions

Photoluminescence of polycrystalline hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) was measured by means of time- and energy-resolved spectroscopy methods. The observed bands are related to DAP transitions, impurities and structural defects. The excitation of samples by high-energy photons above 5.4 eV enables a phenomenon of photostimulated luminescence (PSL), which is due to distantly trapped CB electrons and VB holes. These trapped charges are metastable and their reexcitation with low-energy photons results in anti-Stockes photoluminescence. The comparison of photoluminescence excitation spectra and PSL excitation spectra allows band analysis that supports the hypothesis of Frenkel-like exciton in hBN with a large binding energy.

Mots clés: Photoluminescence; boron nitride; excitons; DAP; photo stimulated luminescence

Domaines: Optique [physics.optics]; Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]

Luc Museur, Feldbach Eduard, A.V. Kanaev. Defect-related photoluminescence of hexagonal boron nitride. Physical Review B: Condensed Matter and Materials Physics (1998-2015), 2008, 78 (15), pp.155204. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevB.78.155204⟩. ⟨hal-00332884⟩