Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is an attractive van der Waals material for studying fluorescent defects due to its large band gap. In this work, we demonstrate enhanced pink color due to neutron irradiation and perform electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) measurements. The point defects are tentatively assigned to doubly occupied nitrogen vacancies with ($S=1$) and a zero-field splitting ($D=1.2\mathrm{GHz}$). These defects are associated with a broad visible optical absorption band and a near-infrared photoluminescence band centered at ∼490 and 820 nm, respectively. The EPR signal intensities are strongly affected by thermal treatments in the temperature range between 600 °C and 800 °C, where also the irradiation-induced pink color is lost. Our results are important for understanding of point defects in h-BN and their deployment for quantum and integrated photonic applications.

Van der Waals heterostructures (vdWHs) composed of transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) and layered magnetic semiconductors offer great opportunities to manipulate the exciton and valley properties of TMDs. Here, we present magneto-photoluminescence (PL) studies in a WSe₂ monolayer (ML) on a CrSBr crystal, an anisotropic layered antiferromagnetic semiconductor. Our results reveal the unique behavior of each of the ML-WSe₂ PL peaks under a magnetic field that is distinct from the pristine case. An intriguing feature is the clear enhancement of the PL intensity that we observe each time the external magnetic field tunes the energy of an exciton in CrSBr into resonance with one of the optical states of WSe₂. This result suggests a magnetic field-controlled resonant energy transfer (RET) beyond other effects reported in similar structures. Our work provides deep insight into the importance of different mechanisms in magnetic vdWHs and underscores its great potential for light harvesting and emission enhancement of two-dimensional materials.

Racemic mixtures drive dimensionality and induce broadband emission in lead bromide perovskites. Temperature-dependent optical and structural studies reveal that exciton dynamics are related to octahedral distortions and hydration effects.

Montebrasite is a lithium aluminum phosphate mineral with the chemical formula LiAlPO4(Fx,OH1–x) and considered a rare gemstone material when exhibiting good crystallinity. In general, montebrasite is colorless, sometimes pale yellow or pale blue. Many minerals that do not have colors contain hydroxyl ions in their crystal structures and can develop color centers after ionization or particle irradiation, examples of which are topaz, quartz, and tourmaline. The color centers in these minerals are often related to O− hole centers, where the color is produced by bound small polarons inducing absorption bands in the near UV to the visible spectral range. In this work, colorless montebrasite specimens from Minas Gerais state, Brazil, were investigated by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) for radiation-induced defects and color centers. Although γ irradiation (up to a total dose of 1 MGy) did not visibly modify color, a 10 MeV electron irradiation (80 MGy) induced a pale greenish-blue color. Using EPR, O− hole centers were identified in both γ- or electron-irradiated montebrasite samples showing superhyperfine interactions with two nearly equivalent 27Al nuclei. In addition, two different Ti3+ electron centers were also observed. From the γ irradiation dose dependency and thermal stability experiments, it is concluded that production of O− hole centers is limited by simultaneous creation of Ti3+ electron centers located between two equivalent hydroxyl groups. In contrast, the concentration of O− hole centers can be strongly increased by high-dose electron irradiation independent of the type of Ti3+ electron centers. From detailed analysis of the EPR angular rotation patterns, microscopic models for the O− hole and Ti3+ electron centers are presented, as well as their role in the formation of color centers discussed and compared to other minerals.

We have investigated the optical and magneto-optical properties of monolayer (ML) WSe2 on flakes of β-Ga2O3 under high magnetic fields. Remarkably, sharp emission peaks were observed and associated with localized excitons related to point defects. A detailed study of low-temperature photoluminescence (PL) and magneto-PL under high perpendicular magnetic field up to 9 T was carried out. Several sharp emission peaks have shown valley g-factors values close to −4, which is an unusual result for localized excitons in WSe2. Furthermore, some PL peaks have shown higher g-factor values of ≈−7 and ≈−12, which were associated with the hybridization of strain localized dark excitons and defects. The reported results suggest that β-Ga2O3 is, indeed, a promising dielectric substrate for ML WSe2 and also to explore fundamental physics in view of possible applications in quantum information technology.