More Like this

1. Van der Waals isotope heterostructures for engineering phonon polariton dispersions

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-40449-w  

   Chen, M.; Zhong, Y.; Harris, E.; Li, J.; Zheng, Z.; Chen, H.; Wu, J.-S.; Jarillo-Herrero, P.; Ma, Q.; Edgar, J. H.; et al (December 2023, Nature Communications)

   Abstract Element isotopes are characterized by distinct atomic masses and nuclear spins, which can significantly influence material properties. Notably, however, isotopes in natural materials are homogenously distributed in space. Here, we propose a method to configure material properties by repositioning isotopes in engineered van der Waals (vdW) isotopic heterostructures. We showcase the properties of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) isotopic heterostructures in engineering confined photon-lattice waves—hyperbolic phonon polaritons. By varying the composition, stacking order, and thicknesses of h 10 BN and h 11 BN building blocks, hyperbolic phonon polaritons can be engineered into a variety of energy-momentum dispersions. These confined and tailored polaritons are promising for various nanophotonic and thermal functionalities. Due to the universality and importance of isotopes, our vdW isotope heterostructuring method can be applied to engineer the properties of a broad range of materials. 

   more » « less
2. Rotationally Aligned Hexagonal Boron Nitride on Sapphire by High-Temperature Molecular Beam Epitaxy

   Ryan Page1, Yongjin Cho2 (July 2019, Physical review and Physical review letters index)

   Hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) has been grown on sapphire substrates by ultrahigh-temperature molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). A wide range of substrate temperatures and boron fluxes have been explored, revealing that high crystalline quality hBN layers are grown at high substrate temperatures, >1600℃ , and low boron fluxes, ∼1 × 10%& Torr beam equivalent pressure. In situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction revealed the growth of hBN layers with 60° rotational symmetry and the [112+ 0] axis of hBN parallel to the [11+ 00] axis of the sapphire substrate. Unlike the rough, polycrystalline films previously reported, atomic force microscopy and transmission electron microscopy characterization of these films demonstrate smooth, layered, few-nanometer hBN films on a nitridated sapphire substrate. This demonstration of high-quality hBN growth by MBE is a step toward its integration into existing epitaxial growth platforms, applications, and technologies. 

   more » « less
3. Isotope engineering for spin defects in van der Waals materials

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-44494-3  

   Gong, Ruotian; Du, Xinyi; Janzen, Eli; Liu, Vincent; Liu, Zhongyuan; He, Guanghui; Ye, Bingtian; Li, Tongcang; Yao, Norman Y; Edgar, James H; et al (December 2024, Nature Communications)

   Abstract Spin defects in van der Waals materials offer a promising platform for advancing quantum technologies. Here, we propose and demonstrate a powerful technique based on isotope engineering of host materials to significantly enhance the coherence properties of embedded spin defects. Focusing on the recently-discovered negatively charged boron vacancy center ($${{{{{{{{\rm{V}}}}}}}}}_{{{{{{{{\rm{B}}}}}}}}}^{-}$$ $V_B^{-}$) in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), we grow isotopically purified h¹⁰B¹⁵N crystals. Compared to$${{{{{{{{\rm{V}}}}}}}}}_{{{{{{{{\rm{B}}}}}}}}}^{-}$$ $V_B^{-}$in hBN with the natural distribution of isotopes, we observe substantially narrower and less crowded$${{{{{{{{\rm{V}}}}}}}}}_{{{{{{{{\rm{B}}}}}}}}}^{-}$$ $V_B^{-}$spin transitions as well as extended coherence timeT₂and relaxation timeT₁. For quantum sensing,$${{{{{{{{\rm{V}}}}}}}}}_{{{{{{{{\rm{B}}}}}}}}}^{-}$$ $V_B^{-}$centers in our h¹⁰B¹⁵N samples exhibit a factor of 4 (2) enhancement in DC (AC) magnetic field sensitivity. For additional quantum resources, the individual addressability of the$${{{{{{{{\rm{V}}}}}}}}}_{{{{{{{{\rm{B}}}}}}}}}^{-}$$ $V_B^{-}$hyperfine levels enables the dynamical polarization and coherent control of the three nearest-neighbor¹⁵N nuclear spins. Our results demonstrate the power of isotope engineering for enhancing the properties of quantum spin defects in hBN, and can be readily extended to improving spin qubits in a broad family of van der Waals materials. 

   more » « less
4. Thickness-scaling phonon resonance: A systematic study of hexagonal boron nitride from monolayers to bulk crystals

   https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0094039  

   Jiang, Xiaojie; Chen, Mingyuan; Li, Jiahan; Fathi-Hafshejani, Parvin; Shen, Jialiang; Jin, Yiming; Cai, Wei; Mahjouri-Samani, Masoud; Edgar, James H.; Dai, Siyuan (October 2022, Journal of Applied Physics)

   Phonons are important lattice vibrations that affect the thermal, electronic, and optical properties of materials. In this work, we studied infrared phonon resonance in a prototype van der Waals (vdW) material—hexagonal boron nitride (hBN)—with the thickness ranging from monolayers to bulk, especially on ultra-thin crystals with atomic layers smaller than 20. Our combined experimental and modeling results show a systematic increase in the intensity of in-plane phonon resonance at the increasing number of layers in hBN, with a sensitivity down to one atomic layer. While the thickness-dependence of the phonon resonance reveals the antenna nature of our nanoscope, the linear thickness-scaling of the phonon polariton wavelength indicates the preservation of electromagnetic hyperbolicity in ultra-thin hBN layers. Our conclusions should be generic for fundamental resonances in vdW materials and heterostructures where the number of constituent layers can be conveniently controlled. The thickness-dependent phonon resonance and phonon polaritons revealed in our work also suggest vdW engineering opportunities for desired thermal and nanophotonic functionalities. 

   more » « less
5. In-plane thermoelectric properties of graphene/xBN/graphene van der Waals heterostructures

   https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-648X/acb89e  

   Makumi, Sylvester W.; Bem, Daniel; Musila, Nicholas; Foss, Cameron J; Aksamija, Zlatan (February 2023, Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter)

   2D materials have attracted broad attention from researchers for their unique electronic proper-ties, which may be been further enhanced by combining 2D layers into vertically stacked van der Waals heterostructures. Among the superlative properties of 2D systems, thermoelectric energy (TE) conversion promises to enable targeted energy conversion, localized thermal management, and thermal sensing. However, TE conversion efficiency remains limited by the inherent tradeoff between conductivity and thermopower. In this paper, we use first-principles calculation to study graphene-based van der Waals heterostructures (vdWHs) composed of graphene layers and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN). We compute the electronic band structures of heterostructured systems using Quantum Espresso and their thermoelectric (TE) properties using BoltzTrap2. Our results have shown that stacking layers of these 2D materials opens a bandgap, increasing it with the number of h-BN interlayers, which significantly improves the power factor (PF). We predict a PF of ~1.0x10 11 W/K 2 .m.s for the vdWHs, nearly double compared to 5x10 10 W/K 2 .m.s that we obtained for single-layer graphene. This study gives important information on the effect of stacking layers of 2D materials and points toward new avenues to optimize the TE properties of vdWHs. 

   more » « less