TY - JOUR

T1 - Structural Attributes and Photodynamics of Visible Spectrum Quantum Emitters in Hexagonal Boron Nitride

AU - Chejanovsky, Nathan

AU - Rezai, Mohammad

AU - Paolucci, Federico

AU - Kim, Youngwook

AU - Rendler, Torsten

AU - Rouabeh, Wafa

AU - Oliveira, Felipe Favaro de

AU - Herlinger, Patrick

AU - Denisenko, Andrej

AU - Yang, Sen

AU - Gerhardt, Ilja

AU - Finkler, Amit

AU - Smet, Jurgen H.

AU - Wrachtrup, Jörg

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2016 American Chemical Society.

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - Newly discovered van der Waals materials like MoS2, WSe2, hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), and recently C2N have sparked intensive research to unveil the quantum behavior associated with their 2D structure. Of great interest are 2D materials that host single quantum emitters. h-BN, with a band gap of 5.95 eV, has been shown to host single quantum emitters which are stable at room temperature in the UV and visible spectral range. In this paper we investigate correlations between h-BN structural features and emitter location from bulk down to the monolayer at room temperature. We demonstrate that chemical etching and ion irradiation can generate emitters in h-BN. We analyze the emitters' spectral features and show that they are dominated by the interaction of their electronic transition with a single Raman active mode of h-BN. Photodynamics analysis reveals diverse rates between the electronic states of the emitter. The emitters show excellent photo stability even under ambient conditions and in monolayers. Comparing the excitation polarization between different emitters unveils a connection between defect orientation and the h-BN hexagonal structure. The sharp spectral features, color diversity, room-temperature stability, long-lived metastable states, ease of fabrication, proximity of the emitters to the environment, outstanding chemical stability, and biocompatibility of h-BN provide a completely new class of systems that can be used for sensing and quantum photonics applications.

AB - Newly discovered van der Waals materials like MoS2, WSe2, hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), and recently C2N have sparked intensive research to unveil the quantum behavior associated with their 2D structure. Of great interest are 2D materials that host single quantum emitters. h-BN, with a band gap of 5.95 eV, has been shown to host single quantum emitters which are stable at room temperature in the UV and visible spectral range. In this paper we investigate correlations between h-BN structural features and emitter location from bulk down to the monolayer at room temperature. We demonstrate that chemical etching and ion irradiation can generate emitters in h-BN. We analyze the emitters' spectral features and show that they are dominated by the interaction of their electronic transition with a single Raman active mode of h-BN. Photodynamics analysis reveals diverse rates between the electronic states of the emitter. The emitters show excellent photo stability even under ambient conditions and in monolayers. Comparing the excitation polarization between different emitters unveils a connection between defect orientation and the h-BN hexagonal structure. The sharp spectral features, color diversity, room-temperature stability, long-lived metastable states, ease of fabrication, proximity of the emitters to the environment, outstanding chemical stability, and biocompatibility of h-BN provide a completely new class of systems that can be used for sensing and quantum photonics applications.

KW - Hexagonal boron-nitride

KW - Single quantum emitters

KW - Van der Waals materials

KW - van der Waals materials

KW - hexagonal boron-nitride

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84994795040&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1021/acs.nanolett.6b03268

DO - 10.1021/acs.nanolett.6b03268

M3 - Article

VL - 16

SP - 7037

EP - 7045

JO - Nano letters

JF - Nano letters

SN - 1530-6984

IS - 11

ER -