Tailoring the Emission Wavelength of Color Centers in Hexagonal Boron Nitride for Quantum Applications

TL;DR

This paper uses density functional theory to predict and manipulate the emission wavelengths of defects in hexagonal boron nitride, enabling tailored quantum emitters for quantum technologies.

Contribution

It provides a computational framework for predicting defect transition energies and demonstrates strain-tuning to match specific quantum application wavelengths.

Findings

Accurately predicts electronic structures of 267 defects using HSE06 functional.

Shows strain-tuning can precisely adjust emission wavelengths.

Offers a pathway to couple emitters with other solid-state qubits.

Abstract

Optical quantum technologies promise to revolutionize today's information processing and sensors. Crucial to many quantum applications are efficient sources of pure single photons. For a quantum emitter to be used in such application, or for different quantum systems to be coupled to each other, the optical emission wavelength of the quantum emitter needs to be tailored. Here, we use density functional theory to calculate and manipulate the transition energy of fluorescent defects in the two-dimensional material hexagonal boron nitride. Our calculations feature the HSE06 functional which allows us to accurately predict the electronic band structures of 267 different defects. Moreover, using strain-tuning we can tailor the optical transition energy of suitable quantum emitters to match precisely that of quantum technology applications. We therefore not only provide a guide to make emitters for a specific application, but also have a promising pathway of tailoring quantum emitters that can couple to other solid-state qubit systems such as color centers in diamond.