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Updated: Aug 15, 2025
11:33
All-electronic Nanosecond-resolved Scanning Tunneling Microscopy: Facilitating the Investigation of Single Dopant Charge Dynamics
Published on: January 19, 2018
9.7K
Discretized hexagonal boron nitride quantum emitters and their chemical interconversion.
Daichi Kozawa1,2, Sylvia Xin Li1, Takeo Ichihara1,3
1Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States of America.
Nanotechnology
|January 3, 2023
Summary
Researchers identified seven distinct quantum emitter types in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) using spectroscopy. Chemical etching techniques were developed to control and convert these specific hBN defect emitters.
Area of Science:
- Solid-state physics
- Quantum optics
- Materials science
Background:
- Quantum emitters in 2D hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) exhibit unique room-temperature single-photon emission.
- Applications in quantum computing and communications are promising, but emitter control remains a challenge due to uncontrolled defect formation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify and characterize discrete quantum emitters in hBN.
- To develop chemical methods for controlling and interconverting these emitters.
Main Methods:
- Collected over 2000 spectra of isolated zero-phonon lines (ZPLs) from diverse hBN samples.
- Analyzed ZPL energies, lifetimes, and phonon sidebands.
- Developed water and boric acid etching techniques for emitter manipulation.
Main Results:
- Identified seven distinct emission energies for hBN quantum emitters within the 1.59–2.25 eV range.
- Observed emitter lifetimes between 1 and 6 ns, with phonon sidebands related to the 1370 cm-1 hBN phonon.
- Demonstrated chemical processing schemes to generate or interconvert specific emitters.
Conclusions:
- The study establishes a framework for understanding and controlling discrete quantum emitters in hBN.
- Chemical interconversion of emitters advances solid-state chemistry and photophysics of hBN quantum emission.
- This work paves the way for tailored hBN-based quantum devices.
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