Hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) has emerged as a promising material platform for nanophotonics and quantum sensing, hosting optically active defects with exceptional properties such as high brightness and large spectral tuning. However, precise control over deterministic spatial positioning of emitters in hBN remained elusive for a long time, limiting their proper correlative characterization and applications in hybrid devices. Recently, focused ion beam (FIB) systems proved to be useful to engineer several types of spatially defined emitters with various structural and photophysical properties. Here we systematically explore the physical processes leading to the creation of optically active defects in hBN using FIB and find that beam–substrate interaction plays a key role in the formation of defects. These findings are confirmed using transmission electron microscopy, which reveals local mechanical deterioration of the hBN layers and local amorphization of ion beam irradiated hBN. Additionally, we show that, upon exposure to water, amorphized hBN undergoes a structural and optical transition between two defect types with distinctive emission properties. Moreover, using super-resolution optical microscopy combined with atomic force microscopy, we pinpoint the exact location of emitters within the defect sites, confirming the role of defected edges as primary sources of fluorescent emission. This lays the foundation for FIB-assisted engineering of optically active defects in hBN with high spatial and spectral control for applications ranging from integrated photonics, to nanoscale sensing, and to nanofluidics.

Devices based on two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors hold promise for the realization of compact and versatile on-chip interconnects between electrical and optical signals. Although light emitting diodes (LEDs) are fundamental building blocks for integrated photonics, the fabrication of light sources made of bulk materials on complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) circuits is challenging. While LEDs based on van der Waals heterostructures have been realized, the control of the emission properties necessary for information processing remains limited. Here, we show room-temperature electrical control of the location, directionality and polarization of light emitted from a 2D LED operating at MHz frequencies. We integrate the LED in a planar cavity to couple the polariton emission angle and polarization to the in-plane exciton momentum, controlled by a lateral voltage. These findings demonstrate the potential of TMDCs as fast, compact and tunable light sources, promising for the realization of electrically driven polariton lasers.

Coupling of spin and heat currents enables the spin Nernst effect, the thermal generation of spin currents in nonmagnets that have strong spin−orbit interaction. Analogous to the spin Hall effect that electrically generates spin currents and associated electrical spin−orbit torques (SOTs), the spin Nernst effect can exert thermal SOTs on an adjacent magnetic layer and control the magnetization direction. Here, the thermal SOT caused by the spin Nernst effect is experimentally demonstrated in W/ CoFeB/MgO structures. It is found that an in-plane temperature gradient across the sample generates a magnetic torque and modulates the switching field of the perpendicularly magnetized CoFeB. The W thickness dependence suggests that the torque originates mainly from thermal spin currents induced in W. Moreover, the thermal SOT reduces the critical current for SOTinduced magnetization switching, demonstrating that it can be utilized to control the magnetization in spintronic devices.

Hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) has emerged as a promising material platform for nanophotonics and quantum sensing, hosting optically-active defects with exceptional properties such as high brightness and large spectral tuning. However, precise control over deterministic spatial positioning of emitters in hBN remained elusive for a long time, limiting their proper correlative characterization and applications in hybrid devices. Recently, focused ion beam (FIB) systems proved to be useful to engineer several types of spatially-defined emitters with various structural and photophysical properties. Here we systematically explore the physical processes leading to the creation of optically-active defects in hBN using FIB, and find that beam-substrate interaction plays a key role in the formation of defects. These findings are confirmed using transmission electron microscopy that reveals local mechanical deterioration of the hBN layers and local amorphization of ion beam irradiated hBN. Additionally, we show that upon exposure to water, amorphized hBN undergoes a structural and optical transition between two defect types with distinctive emission properties. Moreover, using super-resolution optical microscopy combined with atomic force microscopy, we pinpoint the exact location of emitters within the defect sites, confirming the role of defected edges as primary sources of fluorescent emission. This lays the foundation for FIB-assisted engineering of optically-active defects in hBN with high spatial and spectral control for applications ranging from integrated photonics, to quantum sensing to nanofluidics.