Correspondence between previously reported and observed NIR emitter configurations

Determine whether the near-infrared emitters reported in previous studies and the near-infrared emitters observed in oxygen-annealed, laser-written hexagonal boron nitride correspond to the same atomic configurations.

Background

The paper observes persistent and intermittent near-infrared spectral bands from laser-written sites, including emissions above 900 nm. Although similar stability in the 800–900 nm range has been reported previously, the microscopic structures responsible for these emissions have not been identified at the atomic scale. Consequently, it remains unresolved whether the emitters studied here belong to the same defect configurations as those characterized in earlier work. Establishing this correspondence would clarify the reproducibility and microscopic identity of oxygen-associated near-infrared emitters in hexagonal boron nitride.

References

The stability of NIR emitters in the 800 - 900 nm bands was reported in previous studies as well, suggesting stable emission from NIR emitters. Without atomic-scale identification, of course, it is difficult to say whether the previous reports looked at the same configurations.

— Towards Site-Selective Fabrication of Near-Infrared Emitters in hBN  (2608.30822 - Paulauskas et al., 31 Aug 2026) in Section “Spectral stability of NIR emissions”