Temperature Dependence of Wavelength Selectable Zero-Phonon Emission from Single Defects in Hexagonal Boron Nitride

Abstract

We investigate the distribution and temperature-dependent optical properties of sharp, zero-phonon emission from defect-based single photon sources in multilayer hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) flakes. We observe sharp emission lines from optically active defects distributed across an energy range that exceeds 500 meV. Spectrally resolved photon-correlation measurements verify single photon emission, even when multiple emission lines are simultaneously excited within the same h-BN flake. We also present a detailed study of the temperature-dependent line width, spectral energy shift, and intensity for two different zero-phonon lines centered at 575 and 682 nm, which reveals a nearly identical temperature dependence despite a large difference in transition energy. Our temperature-dependent results are well described by a lattice vibration model that considers piezoelectric coupling to in-plane phonons. Finally, polarization spectroscopy measurements suggest that whereas the 575 nm emission line is directly excited by 532 nm excitation, the 682 nm line is excited indirectly.

Non-linear excitation of quantum emitters in hexagonal boron nitride multiplayers

“…[9][10][11][12] Hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) is another layered material 13,14 that has recently been subject to an increased research due its ability to host room-temperature quantum emitters. [15][16][17] While the origin of these emitters is still under investigation, they exhibit remarkable properties such as ultra-high brightness, full polarization, and tunable emission 18 making them very interesting for quantum sensing and optical communications.…”

Robust Solid State Quantum System Operating at 800 K

“…The difference is attributed to environmental fluctuations, which are believed to be responsible for the broad range of ZPL energies, widths and HR factors reported previously for quantum emitters in hBN 19,22,23 . Figure 6.…”

“…The SPS is a deep trap defect in layered hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) -a van der Waals crystal with a wide indirect bandgap of ~ 6 eV 16 and favorable thermal, chemical and mechanical properties 17,18 . The recently-discovered SPSs in hBN are extremely bright, chemically stable, fully polarized, and exhibit a broad range of emission colors 19,20,21,22,23,24,25 . Given the two dimensional (2D), layered nature of hBN and the extreme thermal stability of the SPSs demonstrated here, fabrication of hybrid photonic systems is a promising potential path to high density integrated circuits designed to withstand heating that occurs during operation at RT.…”

Engineering light emission of two-dimensional materials in both the weak and strong coupling regimes

“…However, it has been recently reported that crystal structure imperfections or disorder in some 2D materials such as WSe 2 [10][11][12][13][14] and h-BN [15][16][17] can act as efficient carrier trapping centers that behave as SPEs. In this section, we use the modified MST for the study of the conditions that maximize the extraction of quantum light in 2D WSe 2 and h-BN deposited on SiO 2 /Si and Al 2 O 3 /Al substrates.…”

“…However, potential applications of 2D materials are not only limited to these technologically relevant fields. Very recently, some 2D materials such as WSe 2 [10][11][12][13][14] and h-BN [15][16][17] have revealed promising capabilities for the development of new quantum light sources. Crystal structure imperfections or disorder found in these materials can act as efficient carrier trapping centers that behave as sources of single-photon emitters (SPEs).…”