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Description:

Manipulating the nanostructure of materials is critical for numerous applications in electronics magnetics, and photonics. However, conventional methods such as lithography, etching, and laser-writing require cleanroom facilities or leave residue. Here, we describe a new approach to create atomically sharp line defects in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) at room temperature by direct optical phonon excitation in the mid-infrared (mid-IR). We term this phenomenon “unzipping” to describe the rapid formation and growth of a <30-nm-wide crack from a point within the laser-driven region. The formation of these features is attributed to large atomic displacements and high local bond strain from driving the crystal at a natural resonance. This process is distinguished by (i) occurring only under resonant phonon excitation, (ii) producing highly sub-wavelength features, and (iii) sensitivity to crystal orientation and pump laser polarization. Its cleanliness, directionality, and sharpness enable applications in in-situ flake cleaving and phonon-wave-coupling via free space optical excitation.

Rights:

• Creative Commons BY-NC Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
  

Keyword: Nanostructure, hexagonal boron nitride, optical phonon excitation

Date published: 2024-05-03

Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Journal:

• Science Advances (ISSN: 23752548) vol. 10 issue. 18 eadi3653

Funding:

Manuscript type: Publisher's version (Version of record)

MDR DOI:

First published URL: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adi3653

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Updated at: 2025-02-23 22:46:47 +0900

Published on MDR: 2025-02-23 22:46:47 +0900