Benjamin Stuhlhofer

New features from transparent thin films of EuTiO3

ABSTRACT The almost multiferroic perovskite EuTiO3 (ETO) has been prepared as films on substrates of SrTiO3. For all prepared film thicknesses highly transparent insulating films with atomically flat surfaces and excellent orientation have been grown. They were characterized by X-ray diffraction, magnetic susceptibility and birefringence measurements and found to exhibit bulk properties, namely an antiferromagnetic transition at TN = 5.1 K and a structural transition at TS = 282 K. The latter could only be identified due to the high transparency of the samples since the optical band gap is of the order of 4.5 eV and larger than observed before for any bulk and thin film samples.

Transparent EuTiO 3 films: a possible two-dimensional magneto-optical device

The magneto-optical activity of high quality transparent thin films of insulating EuTiO3 (ETO) deposited on a thin SrTiO3 (STO) substrate, both being non-magnetic materials, are demonstrated to be a versatile tool for light modulation. The operating temperature is close to room temperature and allows for multiple device engineering. By using small magnetic fields birefringence of the samples can be switched off and on. Similarly, rotation of the sample in the field can modify its birefringence Δn. In addition, Δn can be increased by a factor of 4 in very modest fields with simultaneously enhancing the operating temperature by almost 100 K.

Pulsed laser deposition for the synthesis of monolayer WSe2

Atomically thin films of WSe2 from one monolayer up to 8 layers were deposited on an Al2O3 r-cut ( 11¯02) substrate using a hybrid-Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) system where a laser ablation of pure W is combined with a flux of Se. Specular X-ray reflectivities of films were analysed and were consistent with the expected thickness. Raman measurement and atomic force microscopy confirmed the formation of a WSe2 monolayer and its spatial homogeneity over the substrate. Grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction uncovered an in-plane texture in which WSe2 [ 101¯0] preferentially aligned with Al2O3 [ 112¯0]. These results present a potential to create 2D transition metal dichalcogenides by PLD, where the growth kinetics can be steered in contrast to common growth techniques like chemical vapor deposition and molecular beam epitaxy.

Quantum Light in Curved Low Dimensional Hexagonal Boron Nitride Systems

Low-dimensional wide bandgap semiconductors open a new playing field in quantum optics using sub-bandgap excitation. In this field, hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) has been reported to host single quantum emitters (QEs), linking QE density to perimeters. Furthermore, curvature/perimeters in transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have demonstrated a key role in QE formation. We investigate a curvature-abundant BN system – quasi one-dimensional BN nanotubes (BNNTs) fabricated via a catalyst-free method. We find that non-treated BNNT is an abundant source of stable QEs and analyze their emission features down to single nanotubes, comparing dispersed/suspended material. Combining high spatial resolution of a scanning electron microscope, we categorize and pin-point emission origin to a scale of less than 20 nm, giving us a one-to-one validation of emission source with dimensions smaller than the laser excitation wavelength, elucidating nano-antenna effects. Two emission origins emerge: hybrid/entwined BNNT. By artificially curving h-BN flakes, similar QE spectral features are observed. The impact on emission of solvents used in commercial products and curved regions is also demonstrated. The ‘out of the box’ availability of QEs in BNNT, lacking processing contamination, is a milestone for unraveling their atomic features. These findings open possibilities for precision engineering of QEs, puts h-BN under a similar ‘umbrella’ of TMDC’s QEs and provides a model explaining QEs spatial localization/formation using electron/ion irradiation and chemical etching.