Allotropic Ga₂Se₃/GaSe nanostructures grown by van der Waals epitaxy: narrow exciton lines and single-photon emission

The ability to emit narrow exciton lines, preferably with a clearly defined polarization, is one of the key conditions for the use of nanostructures based on III-VI monochalcogenides and other layered crystals in quantum technology to create non-classical light. Currently, the main method of their formation is exfoliation followed by strain and defect engineering. A factor limiting the use of epitaxy is the presence of different phases in the grown films. In this work, we show that control over their formation makes it possible to create structures with the desired properties. We propose Ga₂Se₃/GaSe nanostructures grown by van der Waals epitaxy with a high VI/III flux ratio as a source of narrow exciton lines. Actually, these nanostructures are a combination of allotropes: GaSe and Ga₂Se₃, consisting of the same atoms in different arrangements. The energy positions of the narrow lines are determined by the quantum confinement in Ga₂Se₃ inclusions of different sizes in the GaSe matrix, similar to quantum dots, and their linear polarization is due to the ordering of Ga vacancies in a certain crystalline direction in Ga₂Se₃. Such nanostructures exhibit single-photon emission with second-order correlation function g⁽²⁾(0) ∼ 0.10 at 10 K that makes them promising for quantum technologies.