Strain-Enhanced Coherence in Curved hBN Quantum Emitters

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that thermally induced curvature in hBN flakes creates strain gradients that suppress phonon interactions, significantly enhancing the coherence and spectral purity of room-temperature quantum emitters.

Contribution

It introduces strain engineering via thermal processing as a novel method to improve quantum emitter coherence in hBN by modulating phonon density of states.

Findings

Strain gradients in curved hBN modify phonon modes and density of states.

Quantum emitters in curved regions show higher spectral purity and narrower linewidths.

Photon correlation confirms high-purity single-photon emission at room temperature.

Abstract

Hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) hosts robust room-temperature single-photon emitters, yet their coherence is typically limited by phonon induced dephasing and spectral broadening. Here, we show that thermally induced curvature in bulk like hBN flakes provides a strain enabled route to suppress defect phonon coupling under ambient conditions. Nanoscale bubbles formed by thermal processing generate strong through thickness strain gradients, which we directly probe by infrared nano spectroscopy. These measurements reveal strain induced splitting of in-plane phonon modes, evidencing a substantial local modification of the phonon density of states. Quantum emitters localized within these curved regions exhibit markedly enhanced room temperature spectral purity, with Debye Waller factors of 0.91 and narrower line widths than emitters in flat regions. Photon correlation measurements confirm high-purity single photon emission at room temperature. Supported by first-principles calculations, we attribute this behavior to strain driven phonon redistribution, which depletes phonons in tensile regions and accumulates them in compressive regions, thereby creating locally phonon suppressed environments for defect emitters. These results establish strain engineering as an effective route for phonon control in hBN and open a pathway toward high coherence, room-temperature quantum light sources for integrated nano photonic platforms.