Quantum efficiency and vertical position of quantum emitters in hBN determined by Purcell effect in hybrid metal-dielectric planar photonic structures

TL;DR

This study investigates the quantum efficiency and vertical positioning of hBN quantum emitters using the Purcell effect in hybrid metal-dielectric structures, revealing near-unity efficiency and emitter placement away from surfaces.

Contribution

It introduces a method to precisely determine quantum efficiency and emitter position in hBN using hybrid photonic structures, aiding scalable quantum device integration.

Findings

Quantum efficiency close to unity.

Emitters located away from flake surfaces.

Hybrid structures enhance photon collection.

Abstract

Color centers in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) advantageously combine excellent photophysical properties with a potential for integration in highly compact devices. Progress towards scalable integration necessitates a high quantum efficiency and an efficient photon collection. In this context, we compare the optical characteristics of individual hBN color centers generated by electron irradiation, in two different electromagnetic environments. We keep track of well-identified emitters that we characterize before and after dry transfer of exfoliated crystals. This comparison provides information about their quantum efficiency - which we find close to unity - as well as their vertical position in the crystal with nanometric precision, which we find away from the flake surfaces. Our work suggests hybrid dielectric-metal planar structures as an efficient tool for characterizing quantum emitters in addition to improving the count rate, and can be generalized to other emitters in 2D materials or in planar photonic structures.