Design of photonic microcavities in hexagonal boron nitride

TL;DR

This paper designs photonic crystal cavities in hexagonal boron nitride to enhance quantum emitter coupling, analyzing effects of substrates and absorption for potential quantum photonic applications.

Contribution

It introduces the design of 2D and 1D photonic crystal cavities in hBN, considering anisotropic indices and substrate effects, advancing quantum photonics research.

Findings

Optimized cavity designs for hBN quantum emitters.

Analysis of substrate and absorption effects on cavity performance.

Predicted spontaneous emission rate enhancements.

Abstract

We propose and design photonic crystal cavities (PCCs) in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) for diverse photonic and quantum applications. Two dimensional (2D) hBN flakes contain quantum emitters which are ultra-bright and photostable at room temperature. To achieve optimal coupling of these emitters to optical resonators, fabrication of cavities from monolithic hBN is therefore required, to maximize the overlap between cavity optical modes and the emitters. Here, we design 2D and 1D PCCs using anisotropic indices of hBN. The influence of underlying substrates and material absorption are investigated, and spontaneous emission rate enhancements are calculated. Our results are promising for future quantum photonic experiments with hBN.