TY - JOUR
T1 - Nonmagnetic Quantum Emitters in Boron Nitride with Ultranarrow and Sideband-Free Emission Spectra
AU - Li, Xiangzhi
AU - Shepard, Gabriella D.
AU - Cupo, Andrew
AU - Camporeale, Nicolas
AU - Shayan, Kamran
AU - Luo, Yue
AU - Meunier, Vincent
AU - Strauf, Stefan
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2017/7/25
Y1 - 2017/7/25
N2 - Hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) is an emerging material in nanophotonics and an attractive host for color centers for quantum photonic devices. Here, we show that optical emission from individual quantum emitters in hBN is spatially correlated with structural defects and can display ultranarrow zero-phonon line width down to 45 μeV if spectral diffusion is effectively eliminated by proper surface passivation. We demonstrate that undesired emission into phonon sidebands is largely absent for this type of emitter. In addition, magneto-optical characterization reveals cycling optical transitions with an upper bound for the g-factor of 0.2 ± 0.2. Spin-polarized density functional theory calculations predict possible commensurate transitions between like-spin electron states, which are in excellent agreement with the experimental nonmagnetic defect center emission. Our results constitute a step toward the realization of narrowband quantum light sources and the development of spin-photon interfaces within 2D materials for future chip-scale quantum networks.
AB - Hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) is an emerging material in nanophotonics and an attractive host for color centers for quantum photonic devices. Here, we show that optical emission from individual quantum emitters in hBN is spatially correlated with structural defects and can display ultranarrow zero-phonon line width down to 45 μeV if spectral diffusion is effectively eliminated by proper surface passivation. We demonstrate that undesired emission into phonon sidebands is largely absent for this type of emitter. In addition, magneto-optical characterization reveals cycling optical transitions with an upper bound for the g-factor of 0.2 ± 0.2. Spin-polarized density functional theory calculations predict possible commensurate transitions between like-spin electron states, which are in excellent agreement with the experimental nonmagnetic defect center emission. Our results constitute a step toward the realization of narrowband quantum light sources and the development of spin-photon interfaces within 2D materials for future chip-scale quantum networks.
KW - 2D materials
KW - antibunching
KW - color center
KW - density functional theory
KW - g-factor
KW - hexagonal boron nitride
KW - spectral diffusion
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85026302404&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85026302404&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acsnano.7b00638
DO - 10.1021/acsnano.7b00638
M3 - Article
C2 - 28521091
AN - SCOPUS:85026302404
SN - 1936-0851
VL - 11
SP - 6652
EP - 6660
JO - ACS Nano
JF - ACS Nano
IS - 7
ER -