2016/09/09 by Annemarie L. Exarhos, David A. Hopper, Richard R. Grote +2 · 3 citations
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #2D Materials and Applications #Band gap #Boron nitride #Chemical physics #Crystal (programming language) #Diamond #Diamond and Carbon-based Materials Research #Emission spectrum #Graphene research and applications #Hexagonal boron nitride #Materials science #Molecular physics #Nanotechnology #Optics #Optoelectronics #Photon #Photonic crystal #Photonics #Physics #Quantum #Quantum mechanics #Semiconductor #Spectral line #Substrate (aquarium) #cond-mat.mes-hall
paper · pdf · doi:10.1021/acsnano.7b00665
published as ACS Nano 11, 3328 (2017)
arxiv created 2016/09/09 · openalex publication_date 2017/03/07 · arxiv updated 2018/04/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is rapidly emerging as an attractive material for solid-state quantum engineering. Analogously to three-dimensional wide-band-gap semiconductors such as diamond, h-BN hosts isolated defects exhibiting visible fluorescence at room temperature, and the ability to position such quantum emitters within a two-dimensional material promises breakthrough advances in quantum sensing, photonics, and other quantum technologies. Critical to such applications is an understanding of the physics underlying h-BN's quantum emission. We report the creation and characterization of visible single-photon sources in suspended, single-crystal, h-BN films. With substrate interactions eliminated, we study the spectral, temporal, and spatial characteristics of the defects' optical emission. Theoretical analysis of the defects' spectra reveals similarities in vibronic coupling to h-BN phonon modes despite widely varying fluorescence wavelengths, and a statistical analysis of the polarized emission from many emitters throughout the same single-crystal flake uncovers a weak correlation between the optical dipole orientations of some defects and h-BN's primitive crystallographic axes, despite a clear misalignment for other dipoles. These measurements constrain possible defect models and, moreover, suggest that several classes of emitters can exist simultaneously throughout free-standing h-BN, whether they be different defects, different charge states of the same defect, or the result of strong local perturbations.