Resonant Excitation of Quantum Emitters in Hexagonal Boron Nitride

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates resonant excitation of single quantum emitters in hexagonal boron nitride, achieving narrow spectral linewidths and revealing their potential for quantum information applications.

Contribution

It presents the first resonant excitation of hBN quantum emitters with detailed spectral and temporal characterization, advancing their use in quantum technologies.

Findings

Spectral linewidths narrower than 1 GHz despite spectral diffusion.

Spectral diffusion time around 100 ms.

Successful on-resonance photon antibunching measurement.

Abstract

Quantum emitters in layered hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) have recently attracted a great attention as promising single photon sources. In this work, we demonstrate resonant excitation of a single defect center in hBN, one of the most important prerequisites for employment of optical sources in quantum information application. We observe spectral linewidths of hBN emitter narrower than 1 GHz while the emitter experiences spectral diffusion. Temporal photoluminescence measurements reveals an average spectral diffusion time of around 100 ms. On-resonance photon antibunching measurement is also realized. Our results shed light on the potential use of quantum emitters from hBN in nanophotonics and quantum information.