Studying cubic boron nitride by Raman and infrared spectroscopies

In this paper, optical properties of cubic boron nitride (cBN) in forms of films, powders and monocrystals are studied in vibrational spectral regions. For cBN single crystals, the reststrahlen peak reflectivity of about 95% has been obtained. The second-order Raman scattering spectra induced by visible light excitation is also presented. The infrared two-phonon absorption bands are suggested as additional fingerprints for identification of the cBN nature.