Aromatic Molecular Emitters in a Hexagonal Boron Nitride Stack.
- 1Institute of Applied Physics, University of Bonn, Wegelerstr. 8, 53115Bonn, Germany.
- 2Physikalisches Institut, University of Bonn, Nussallee 12, 53115Bonn, Germany.
- 3Institute of Applied Physics, Technical University of Vienna, Wiedner Hauptstr. 8-10, 1040Vienna, Austria.
Abstract
Single polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon molecules embedded in organic matrices are excellent narrow line width quantum emitters. Extending this host-guest setting to van der Waals materials offers the opportunity to combine the preeminent properties of molecular emitters with access to the versatility of two-dimensional heterostructures. In this work, we incorporate perylene molecules into multilayered hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) stacks and observe gigahertz-narrow zero-phonon-line transitions at cryogenic temperatures. We unambiguously verify the origins of photon emission through vibronic spectra analysis. By combining hyperspectral localization measurements with quantum chemistry calculations, we examine the insertion mechanisms of perylene molecules in the stacks and conclude that pristine hBN layers tend to expel molecules from the stacks, while extended morphological defects, hydroxyl groups, and unpassivated boron and nitrogen atoms can assist to stabilize molecular bindings to hBN. Our work provides valuable insight for future work to deterministically integrate narrow line width molecular emitters into van der Waals devices.
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BibTeX
@article{fang2026aromatic,
title = {{Aromatic Molecular Emitters in a Hexagonal Boron Nitride Stack.}},
author = {Tianyu Fang and Ricardo Gioia Alvarez and Babak Behjati and Moritz Scharfstädt and Max Masuhr and Bo Deng and Noah Henseler and Andrea Bergschneider and Stefan Linden and Christian Schäfer and Daqing Wang},
journal = {Nano letters},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1021/acs.nanolett.6c01870},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42916637},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Aromatic Molecular Emitters in a Hexagonal Boron Nitride Stack.
AU - Tianyu Fang
AU - Ricardo Gioia Alvarez
AU - Babak Behjati
AU - Moritz Scharfstädt
AU - Max Masuhr
AU - Bo Deng
AU - Noah Henseler
AU - Andrea Bergschneider
AU - Stefan Linden
AU - Christian Schäfer
AU - Daqing Wang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/01
JO - Nano letters
DO - 10.1021/acs.nanolett.6c01870
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42916637
AB - Single polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon molecules embedded in organic matrices are excellent narrow line width quantum emitters. Extending this host-guest setting to van der Waals materials offers the opportunity to combine the preeminent properties of molecular emitters with access to the versatility of two-dimensional heterostructures. In this work, we incorporate perylene molecules into multilayered hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) stacks and observe gigahertz-narrow zero-phonon-line transitions at cryogenic temperatures. We unambiguously verify the origins of photon emission through vibronic spectra analysis. By combining hyperspectral localization measurements with quantum chemistry calculations, we examine the insertion mechanisms of perylene molecules in the stacks and conclude that pristine hBN layers tend to expel molecules from the stacks, while extended morphological defects, hydroxyl groups, and unpassivated boron and nitrogen atoms can assist to stabilize molecular bindings to hBN. Our work provides valuable insight for future work to deterministically integrate narrow line width molecular emitters into van der Waals devices.
SN - 1530-6984
SN - 1530-6992
ER -