Sub-Diffraction Correlation of Quantum Emitters and Local Strain Fields in Strain-Engineered WSe₂ Monolayers.

Area of Science:

• Quantum technology
• Materials science
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Strain-engineering in atomically thin metal dichalcogenides is crucial for developing single-photon emitters (SPEs).
• Accurately correlating SPE positions with local strain topography is difficult due to diffraction-limited resolution.
• Current methods often assume SPEs are at peak strain, leading to inefficient identification of spectrally pure emitters.

Purpose of the Study:

• To precisely locate single-photon emitters (SPEs) in nanoparticle-strained WSe2 monolayers.
• To correlate SPE positions with the underlying strain field with sub-diffraction-limit resolution.
• To investigate the relationship between emitter location and strain topography.

Main Methods:

• Utilized hyperspectral quantum emitter localization microscopy for high-resolution SPE localization (≈30 nm).
• Employed image registration to correlate emitter positions with the local strain field.
• Analyzed 33 SPEs in nanoparticle-strained WSe2 monolayers.

Main Results:

• Spectrally pure SPEs were found to be distributed away from points of peak strain, with an average displacement of 240 nm.
• Contrary to assumptions, peak strain locations did not concentrate isolable SPEs due to spectral contamination.
• Demonstrated sub-diffraction-limit resolution for correlating SPEs with strain fields.

Conclusions:

• Current design rules for strain-engineered SPEs require revision.
• The findings are a significant step towards developing advanced quantum optical architectures.
• Accurate localization and correlation are essential for optimizing SPE performance in quantum technologies.