Red and infrared colour centres in zinc oxide epitaxial nanowires

The integration of quantum emitters in semiconductor nanowires (NWs) offers appealing prospects for quantum optics and quantum information applications. Here, we study the visible emission from metal-organic vapour phase epitaxy zinc oxide NWs. We show that the NWs frequently incorporate native red-emitting colour centres at about 650 nm, in the form of small ensembles exhibiting photon antibunching, down to individual emitters. Additional post-treatment can yield modification of the number and the optical properties of the emitters, as well as generate near-infrared emitters (∼ 780 nm). Our results could be used for the realisation of guided quantum sources deterministically integrated in hybrid devices.