Ubiquitous Antiparallel Domains in 2D Hexagonal Boron Nitride Uncovered by Interferometric Nonlinear Optical Imaging
Hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) supports a wide range of 2D technologies, yet assessing its crystalline quality over large areas remains a fundamental challenge. Both antiparallel domains, an intrinsic outcome of epitaxy on high-symmetry substrates, and associated structural defects have long evaded optical detection. Here, we show that interferometric second-harmonic generation (SHG) imaging provides a powerful, non-destructive probe of lattice orientation and structural integrity in 2D hBN grown by chemical vapor deposition. This approach reveals the ubiquitous formation of antiparallel domains and quantifies their impact on crystalline order. SHG intensity also emerges as a direct optical metric of domain disorder, spanning three orders of magnitude across films produced by ten different growth routes. Correlation with Raman spectroscopy establishes a unified framework for evaluating crystalline quality. Beyond hBN, this method offers a high-throughput route to wide-area structural imaging in various non-centrosymmetric materials, advancing their deployment in electronics, photonics, and quantum technologies.
Authors
- Seung Jin Lee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6200-0004)
- Hiroki Ago (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0908-5883)
- Sunmin Ryu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6860-6514)
- Yeri Lee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-3273-4957)
- Yani Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-9933-607X)
- Ki Kang Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1008-6744)
- Takashi Taniguchi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1467-3105)
- Eui Young Jung
- Kenji Watanabe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3701-8119)
- Hyeon Suk Shin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0495-7443)
- Hailin Peng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1569-0238)
- Kyung Yeol (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4652-1912)
- Juseung Oh
Institutions
- Pohang University of Science and Technology (KR)
- Kyushu University (JP)
- National Institute for Materials Science (JP)
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (CN)
- Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (KR)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
- Sungkyunkwan University (KR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Materials
- Published
- 2026-04-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202519546
- Primary Topic
- Graphene research and applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Research Foundation
- Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning
- National Research Foundation of Korea
- Ministry of Science and ICT, South Korea
- Samsung
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science