Stark Tuning of Single-Photon Emitters in Hexagonal Boron Nitride

• Published in: arXiv.org 2018-07
• Main Authors: Noh, Gichang, Choi, Daebok, Jin-Hun, Kim, Dong-Gil Im, Yoon-Ho, Kim, Seo, Hosung, Lee, Jieun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Boron nitride; Control methods; Defects; Dipole moments; Electric fields; Emissions control; Emitters; First principles; Graphene; Heterostructures; Photon emission; Quantum computing; Stability; Stark effect
• ISSN: 2331-8422
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1807.04945

Single-photon emitters play an essential role in quantum technologies, including quantum computing and quantum communications. Atomic defects in hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) have recently emerged as new room-temperature single-photon emitters in solid-state systems, but the development of scalable and tunable h-BN single-photon emitters requires external methods that can control the emission energy of individual defects. Here, by fabricating van der Waals heterostructures of h-BN and graphene, we demonstrate the electrical control of single-photon emission from atomic defects in h-BN via the Stark effect. By applying an out-of-plane electric field through graphene gates, we observed Stark shifts as large as 5.4 nm per GV/m. The Stark shift generated upon a vertical electric field suggests the existence of out-of-plane dipole moments associated with atomic defect emitters, which is supported by first-principles theoretical calculations. Furthermore, we found field-induced discrete modification and stabilization of emission intensity, which were reversibly controllable with an external electric field.