Solitons may develop when strain forms at line defects separating commensurate domains in misaligned or lattice-mismatched van der Waals heterostructures. Here, the authors use atomic-force microscopy and nano-infrared spectroscopy to image solitons in thin hBN crystals in the form of long-range periodic superstructures, creating sub-surface hexagonal networks with periods of a few hundred nanometers.
- G. X. Ni
- H. Wang
- D. N. Basov
