Abstract
We report hyperspectral microscopy in sp2-bonded boron nitride polytypes with a simultaneous inspection of the photoluminescence signal in the UV-C and UV-B spectral ranges. By comparing two different polytypes extracted from the same polycrystalline sample, we reveal that the well-known “4 eV defect” does not emit at the same energy for polytypes in the AB and AA′ stackings. The zero-phonon line is either at 4.14 or 4.16 eV for the noncentrosymmetric AB stacking, instead of the usual 4.09 eV energy in the AA′ stacking. Our results open the way for different characterization methods of the stacking order in sp2-bonded boron nitride, and bring alternative inputs for the elucidation of the atomistic configuration of points defects by advanced ab initio calculations.