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

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates strain-controlled, high-purity, room-temperature single photon emitters in hexagonal boron nitride with spectral tunability and transferability, enabling scalable quantum photonic applications.

Contribution

It introduces strain tuning for spectral control and material processing to enhance purity in hBN single photon emitters at room temperature.

Findings

Spectral tunability over 6 meV via strain control.

Single photon count rates exceeding 10^7 counts/sec.

Emitters are stable during transfer to other substrates.

Abstract

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 report high single photon count rates exceeding 10^7 counts/sec at saturation, which is the highest single photon detection rate for room-temperature single photon emitters, to our knowledge. Furthermore, these emitters are stable to material transfer to other substrates. High-purity and photostable single photon emission at room temperature, together with spectral tunability and transferability, opens the door to scalable integration of high-quality quantum emitters in photonic quantum technologies.