Ion-beam modification of the local luminescent properties of hexagonal boron nitride

Hexagonal boron nitride is a promising material of modern optoelectronics. Point defects in this material can serve as single-photon sources. In this paper we investigate the modification of the luminescent properties of hexagonal boron nitride by means of local irradiation with focused gallium and helium ion beams. It is demonstrated that the intensity of band-to-band cathodoluminescence monotonically decreases with increasing ion fluence for both gallium and helium. The luminescence band of about 2 eV may become more intense after exposure to He ions with certain ion fluence. The effect of complete quenching of luminescence after gallium irradiation is used to estimate the diffusion length of excess charge carriers.