Generation of luminescent defects in hBN by various irradiation methods

• Luminescent centres in hBN show good brightness and excellent quantum properties at room temperature, making them potential competitors with state-of-the-art quantum emitters.
• The charged Boron vacancy (V_B‾) is a luminescent centre featuring broad photoluminescence (PL) spectrum centered around 850 nm, along with magnetic properties with important applications in quantum sensing schemes.
• In the present work, we use a Helium Ion Microscope (HIM) for irradiating hBN flakes to generate luminescent centres. We perform thorough PL characterization of these centres, showing that this technique can systematically produce high-quality luminescent emitters in hBN.