Abstract
The impulsive excitation of ensembles of excitons or color centers by a high-energy electron beam results in the observation of photon bunching in the second-order correlation function of the cathodoluminescence generated by those emitters. Photon bunching in cathodoluminescence microscopy can be used to resolve the excited-state dynamics and the excitation and emission efficiency of nanoscale materials, and it can be used to probe interactions between emitters and nanophotonic cavities. Unfortunately, the required integration times for these measurements can be problematic for beam-sensitive materials. Here, we report substantial changes in the measured bunching induced by indirect electron interactions (with indirect electron excitation inducing g2(0) values approaching 104). This result is critical to the interpretation of g2(τ) in cathodoluminescence microscopies, and, more importantly, it provides a foundation for the nanoscale characterization of optical properties in beam-sensitive materials.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 9738-9744 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Nanoscale |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue number | 22 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - May 16 2023 |
Funding
This research was supported by the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility and by the U. S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division. J. N. was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists (WDTS) under the Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship program.