Position-controlled quantum emitters with reproducible emission wavelength in hexagonal boron nitride

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates position-controlled, reproducible wavelength quantum emitters in hexagonal boron nitride, enabling scalable quantum photonic device integration with high spatial and spectral precision.

Contribution

It introduces a method to activate quantum emitters at precise locations in hBN with stable, reproducible emission wavelengths, surpassing previous spectral uniformity.

Findings

Emitters activated by electron beam at chosen locations

Reproducible emission wavelength with 3 meV dispersion

Stable single photon emission up to room temperature

Abstract

Single photon emitters (SPEs) in low-dimensional layered materials have recently gained a large interest owing to the auspicious perspectives of integration and extreme miniaturization offered by this class of materials. However, accurate control of both the spatial location and the emission wavelength of the quantum emitters is essentially lacking to date, thus hindering further technological steps towards scalable quantum photonic devices. Here, we evidence SPEs in high purity synthetic hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) that can be activated by an electron beam at chosen locations. SPE ensembles are generated with a spatial accuracy better than the cubed emission wavelength, thus opening the way to integration in optical microstructures. Stable and bright single photon emission is subsequently observed in the visible range up to room temperature upon non-resonant laser excitation. Moreover, the low-temperature emission wavelength is reproducible, with an ensemble distribution of width 3 meV, a statistical dispersion that is more than one order of magnitude lower than the narrowest wavelength spreads obtained in epitaxial hBN samples. Our findings constitute an essential step towards the realization of top-down integrated devices based on identical quantum emitters in 2D materials.