The results were presented of photoluminescence spectroscopy, at below 10K, of 2 types of cBN irradiated with 1.9MeV electrons at room temperature. All of the samples were small (<1mm diameter) single crystals. Three defect centres (with narrow lines at 2.28, 2.15 and 1.98eV) were introduced into both amber and black-brown samples by irradiation. The amber samples also showed a defect centre (at 1.65eV) that was present before and after irradiation. Line-shape analysis of the zero phonon lines of all 3 irradiation-induced centres showed that the lines were predominantly Gaussian in character; suggesting that line-type defects such as dislocations were a prevalent characteristic of the crystals.

Photoluminescence Spectroscopy of Electron-Irradiation Induced Defects in Cubic Boron Nitride (cBN). R.M.Erasmus, J.D.Comins: Physica Status Solidi C, 2004, 1[9], 2269-73