Single-Photon Emitters in Boron Nitride Nanococoons

Abstract

Quantum emitters in two-dimensional hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) are attractive for a variety of quantum and photonic technologies because they combine ultra-bright, room-temperature single-photon emission with an atomically thin crystal. However, the emitter's prominence is hindered by large, strain-induced wavelength shifts. We report the discovery of a visible-wavelength, single-photon emitter (SPE) in a zero-dimensional boron nitride allotrope (the boron nitride nanococoon, BNNC) that retains the excellent optical characteristics of few-layer hBN while possessing an emission line variation that is lower by a factor of 5 than the hBN emitter. We determined the emission source to be the nanometer-size BNNC through the cross-correlation of optical confocal microscopy with high-resolution scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Altogether, this discovery enlivens color centers in BN materials and, because of the BN nanococoon's size, opens new and exciting opportunities in nanophotonics, quantum information, biological imaging, and nanoscale sensing.

Dynamically tuned non-classical light emission from atomic defects in hexagonal boron nitride

“…The obtained lifetimes (τ PL values outlined in Fig. 2c) are consistent with the characteristic decay times found in other monolayer and multilayer h-BN samples 7,8,10,13,25,26 .…”

“…Such high elastic response of h-BN allows for effective strain engineering of its optical properties, which is particularly important for implementations of this material into existing photonic and optoelectronic devices. The same effect can, in principle, also explain the giant spectral spread of embedded quantum emitters, which is typically observed in the PL spectra of h-BN 6,7,[9][10][11][12][13] . The large strain-driven spectral variability demonstrated here suggests that defects in h-BN can indeed couple to local lattice strain inducing large variations of their emission wavelength.…”

“…The atom-like deep-level defects in h-BN have recently emerged as prominent candidates for single-photon emission. Although their microscopic nature is still under debate, these luminescent centers have been proven to be extremely robust, high-temperature, linearly polarized and ultra-bright sources of non-classical (i.e., antibunched) light [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] . The prominence of single-photon emitters (SPEs) in h-BN is, however, hindered by the emitter-to-emitter wavelength variability, which covers a broad range in the visible and near-infrared spectrum 6,7,[9][10][11][12][13] .…”

Nanoporous Microsponge Particles (NMP) of Polysaccharides as Universal Carriers for Biomolecules Delivery

“…Organic–inorganic nanoporous multifaceted structures, such as micro-nanoflowers [ 1 ], microsponges [ 2 ], nanoclews [ 3 ], and nanococoons [ 4 ] are emerging materials that have proven useful in applications spanning catalysis, sensing, and drug delivery, owing to their porous structure. The fabrication of these systems typically requires the addition of an inorganic component such as a metal salt (e.g., composed of copper, calcium, or manganese phosphate) to biomacromolecules (e.g., peptide [ 5 ], DNA [ 6 ], RNA, or polysaccharides [ 7 ]).…”

Integration of Single-Photon Emitters in 2D Materials with Plasmonic Waveguides at Room Temperature

“…The N B V N defect in h-BN is well known for its ability to form a promising single-photon source at room temperature by exhibiting ultrabright light emission with linear polarization and a narrow linewidth [21][22][23][24]. Optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) was also reported to originate from the h-BN defect [25].…”