Waveguide-Based Platform for Large-FOV Imaging of Optically Active Defects in 2D Materials

• Published in: ACS photonics Vol. 6; no. 12; pp. 3100 - 3107
• Main Authors: Glushkov, Evgenii, Archetti, Anna, Stroganov, Anton, Comtet, Jean, Thakur, Mukeshchand, Navikas, Vytautas, Lihter, Martina, Marin, Juan Francisco Gonzalez, Babenko, Vitaliy, Hofmann, Stephan, Manley, Suliana, Radenovic, Aleksandra
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 18.12.2019
• Subjects: microscopy; imaging; super-resolution; waveguides; 2D materials; defects
• ISSN: 2330-4022; 2330-4022
• DOI: 10.1021/acsphotonics.9b01103

Single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) is a powerful tool that is routinely used for nanoscale optical imaging of biological samples. Recently, this approach has been applied to study optically active defects in two-dimensional (2D) materials. Such defects can not only alter the mechanical and optoelectronic properties of 2D materials but also bring new functionalities, which make them a promising platform for integrated nanophotonics and quantum sensing. Most SMLM approaches, however, provide a field of view limited to ∼50 × 50 μm2, which is not sufficient for high-throughput characterization of 2D materials. Moreover, the 2D materials themselves pose an additional challenge as their nanometer-scale thickness prevents efficient far-field excitation of optically active defects. To overcome these limitations, we present here a waveguide-based platform for large field-of-view imaging of 2D materials via total internal reflection excitation. We use this platform to perform large-scale characterization of point defects in chemical vapor deposition-grown hexagonal boron nitride on an area of up to 100 × 1000 μm2 and demonstrate its potential for correlative imaging and high-throughput characterization of defects in 2D materials.