Crossover from inhomogeneous to homogeneous response of a resonantly driven hBN quantum emitter

TL;DR

This study explores how a solid-state quantum emitter in hBN transitions from inhomogeneous to homogeneous spectral response under resonant excitation, revealing detailed photon statistics and spectral diffusion effects.

Contribution

It demonstrates the crossover between inhomogeneous and homogeneous broadening regimes in a B-center in hBN using power broadening and numerical simulations.

Findings

Lineshape evolves from inhomogeneous to Lorentzian under power broadening

Photon statistics shift from spectral diffusion influenced to Poissonian

Spectral diffusion modeled by discrete jumps at micro- to millisecond timescales

Abstract

We experimentally investigate a solid-state quantum emitter - a B center in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) - that has lifetime-limited coherence at short times, and experiences inhomogeneous broadening due to spectral diffusion at longer times. By making use of power broadening in resonant laser excitation, we explore the crossover between the inhomogeneous and the homogeneous broadening regimes. With the support of numerical simulations, we show that the lineshape, count rate, second-order correlations and long-time photon statistics evolve from a regime where they are dictated by spectral diffusion to a regime where they are simply given by the homogeneous response of the emitter, yielding restored Lorentzian shape and Poissonian photon statistics. Saturation of the count rate and line broadening occur not at the onset of the Rabi oscillations, but when the power-broadened homogeneous response becomes comparable with the inhomogeneous linewidth. Moreover, we identify specific signatures in both the second-order correlations and long-time photon statistics that are well explained by a microscopic spectral diffusion model based on discrete jumps at timescales of micro- to milliseconds. Our work provides an extensive description of the photophysics of B-centers under resonant excitation, and can be readily extended to a wide variety of solid-state quantum emitters.