Tunable and high-purity room temperature single-photon emission from atomic defects in hexagonal boron nitride

Two-dimensional van der Waals materials have emerged as promising platforms for solid-state quantum information processing devices with unusual potential for heterogeneous assembly. Recently, bright and photostable single photon emitters were reported from atomic defects in layered hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), but controlling inhomogeneous spectral distribution and reducing multi-photon emission presented open challenges. Here, we demonstrate that strain control allows spectral tunability of hBN single photon emitters over 6 meV, and material processing sharply improves the single photon purity. We observe high single photon count rates exceeding 7 × 10 6 counts per second at saturation, after correcting for…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Awards: 1542863, 1231319
• UD
  U.S. Department of Energy

  Awards: DE130100592, DE-SC0001088, DMR-1231319
• SN
  Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
• AS
  Austrian Science Fund

  Awards: Y-539, START Y-539
• S
  Samsung
• OO
  Office of Science

  Award: DE-SC0001088
• AR
  Australian Research Council

  Award: DE130100592
• DO
  Division of Materials Research

  Awards: EFRI 2-DARE, 1231319, DMR-1231319
• DO
  Division of Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation

  Award: 1542863
• BE
  Basic Energy Sciences

  Award: DE-SC0001088
• AR
  Army Research Laboratory