Atomic Engineering of Single Photon Sources in 2D Boron Nitride Zai-Quan

TL;DR

This paper presents a plasma processing method to controllably increase and stabilize single photon emitters in 2D boron nitride, advancing their integration into quantum nanophotonic devices.

Contribution

A robust plasma-based technique to enhance and stabilize quantum emitters in 2D hBN for scalable quantum photonics applications.

Findings

7-fold increase in emitter density

Annealing yields photo-stable emitters

First controllable placement approach for hBN emitters

Abstract

Artificial atomic systems in solids such as single photon emitters are becoming increasingly important building blocks in quantum information processing and scalable quantum nanophotonic networks. Here, we report on a controllable way to engineer emitters in two-dimensional (2D) hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) crystals using plasma processing. The method is robust, and yields a 7-fold increase in the density of emitters in hBN, which is promising for their deployment in practical devices. While as-fabricated emitters suffer from blinking and bleaching, a subsequent annealing step yields photo-stable emitters. The presented process is the first step towards controllable placement of quantum emitters in hBN for integrated on-chip quantum nanophotonics based on 2D materials.