Résumé
I will discuss our recent studies showing that the optical response in hBN displays prominent evidence for phonon-assisted optical transitions, with a very unusual phenomenology. By two-photon spectroscopy, we demonstrated that the intrinsic optical properties at the band edge are characteristic of an indirect bandgap material. Polarization-resolved experiments with a detection from the sample edge allowed us to show that the phonon symmetries can be traced back in the optical response. I will further highlight the unique properties of this material where the optical response is tailored by the phonon group velocities in the middle of the Brillouin zone. I will finally present optical characterization results of the promising high-temperature MBE growth of hBN.