New method for visualizing atom-thin boron nitride layers

Camouflage Exposed! Innovative Microscope Makes Invisible Boron Nitride Visible

2025-12-09 Source: Fritz Haber Institute | Translated by AI 3 min Reading Time

At the Fritz Haber Institute (FHI), a new method has been developed to image boron nitride layers that are only one atom thick ...

What you see here was invisible until recently! These are the crystals of so-called white graphite (hexagonal boron nitride), a 2D material that could become important for the optoelectronics of the future. Read how it was uncovered ...(Image: FHI) — What you see here was invisible until recently! These are the crystals of so-called white graphite (hexagonal boron nitride), a 2D material that could become important for the optoelectronics of the future. Read how it was uncovered ...
(Image: FHI)

Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), also known as white graphene, is a material that is usually almost invisible with optical microscopes because it does not exhibit optical resonances, as researchers from the FHI explain. However, the team used nonlinear microscopy with infrared light to strip h-BN of its invisibility cloak and make it visible. Even its crystal orientation could subsequently be observed. This discovery could have a positive impact on the currently flourishing development of new optoelectronic components made from stacked so-called 2D materials. These are generally crystalline substances that are only one atomic layer thick and therefore exhibit unusual properties. This type of boron nitride is among the most promising candidates for development success in this field. While 2D materials have been known for over 100 years, it was not until 2004 that such a material, graphene based on carbon, was first synthesized in the laboratory. Since then, new types have been added continuously.

Details About Hexagonal Boron Nitride

Boron nitride (BN) is thus a 2D layered material composed of the elements boron (B) and nitrogen (N). It can occur in various forms—including as h-BN. Similar to graphene, h-BN has a hexagonal lattice structure and its 2D layers are used in various applications, such as quantum optics or infrared nanophotonics. It can also simply serve as a substrate or encapsulation material, the researchers further explain. However, precise characterization of the h-BN layers is important for this. Aside from a pronounced resonance in the mid-infrared range, it unfortunately appears completely transparent as a single layer across the entire near-infrared and visible spectral range. It thus remains invisible, which has hindered development so far because nothing could be examined. But a newly developed microscope at the FHI now virtually sheds new light on the subject.

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Date: 08.12.2025

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