Position-controlled quantum emitters with reproducible emission wavelength in hexagonal boron nitride

• Published in: Nature communications 2021-06, Vol.12 (1), p.3779-3779, Article 3779
• Main Authors: Fournier, Clarisse, Plaud, Alexandre, Roux, Sébastien, Pierret, Aurélie, Rosticher, Michael, Watanabe, Kenji, Taniguchi, Takashi, Buil, Stéphanie, Quélin, Xavier, Barjon, Julien, Hermier, Jean-Pierre, Delteil, Aymeric
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 639/301/119/1000/1018; 639/766/483/3925; Boron; Boron nitride; Condensed Matter; Electron beams; Emissions; Emitters; Humanities and Social Sciences; Integration; Lasers; Layered materials; Low temperature; Materials science; Miniaturization; multidisciplinary; Optics; Other; Photon emission; Photons; Physics; Point defects; Purity; Quantum Physics; Reproducibility; Room temperature; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Statistical methods; Two dimensional materials; Wavelength
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24019-6

Single photon emitters (SPEs) in low-dimensional layered materials have recently gained a large interest owing to the auspicious perspectives of integration and extreme miniaturization offered by this class of materials. However, accurate control of both the spatial location and the emission wavelength of the quantum emitters is essentially lacking to date, thus hindering further technological steps towards scalable quantum photonic devices. Here, we evidence SPEs in high purity synthetic hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) that can be activated by an electron beam at chosen locations. SPE ensembles are generated with a spatial accuracy better than the cubed emission wavelength, thus opening the way to integration in optical microstructures. Stable and bright single photon emission is subsequently observed in the visible range up to room temperature upon non-resonant laser excitation. Moreover, the low-temperature emission wavelength is reproducible, with an ensemble distribution of width 3 meV, a statistical dispersion that is more than one order of magnitude lower than the narrowest wavelength spreads obtained in epitaxial hBN samples. Our findings constitute an essential step towards the realization of top-down integrated devices based on identical quantum emitters in 2D materials. Accurate control of the spatial location and the emission wavelength of single photon emitters (SPEs) in van der Waals materials is a crucial yet challenging endeavour. Here, the authors use an electron beam to generate SPE ensembles in high purity synthetic hBN with enhanced spatial accuracy and emission reproducibility.