Polarization and localization of single-photon emitters in hexagonal boron nitride wrinkles

TL;DR

This study combines theoretical and experimental approaches to demonstrate that nano-scale wrinkles in hexagonal boron nitride can localize and align single-photon emitters, advancing control over their properties for quantum technologies.

Contribution

It reveals that wrinkles in h-BN can be used to control the formation and polarization of SPEs, linking defect orientation to crystallographic features.

Findings

Wrinkles induce localized SPEs with aligned optical dipoles.

Density functional theory shows curvature influences defect symmetry.

Experimental confirmation of wrinkle-induced SPEs and polarization alignment.

Abstract

Color centers in 2-dimensional hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) have recently emerged as stable and bright single-photon emitters (SPEs) operating at room temperature. In this study, we combine theory and experiment to show that vacancy-based SPEs selectively form at nano-scale wrinkles in h-BN with its optical dipole preferentially aligned to the wrinkle direction. By using density functional theory calculations, we find that the wrinkle curvature plays a crucial role in localizing vacancy-based SPE candidates and aligning the defects symmetry plane to the wrinkle direction. By performing optical measurements on SPEs created in h-BN single-crystal flakes, we experimentally confirm the wrinkle-induced generation of SPEs and their polarization alignment to the wrinkle direction. Our results not only provide a new route to controlling the atomic position and the optical property of the SPEs but also revealed the possible crystallographic origin of the SPEs in h-BN, greatly enhancing their potential for use in solid-state quantum photonics and quantum information processing.