Prolonged photostability in hexagonal boron nitride quantum emitters
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s43246-023-00345-8.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
1.93 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
4a8c8618bcfb545c361a507390a40bf0
Author(s)
Li, Sylvia Xin
Ichihara, Takeo
Park, Hyoju
He, Guangwei
Kozawa, Daichi
Wen, Yi
Koman, Volodymyr B
Zeng, Yuwen
Kuehne, Matthias
Yuan, Zhe
Date Issued
March 6, 2023
Journal
Communications Materials
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Citation
Li, S.X., Ichihara, T., Park, H. et al. Prolonged photostability in hexagonal boron nitride quantum emitters. Commun Mater 4, 19 (2023).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Single-photon emitters are crucial building blocks for optical quantum technologies. Hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) is a promising two-dimensional material that hosts bright, room-temperature single-photon emitters. However, photo instability is a persistent challenge preventing practical applications of these properties. Here, we reveal the ubiquitous photobleaching of hBN vacancy emitters. Independent of the source or the number of hBN layers, we find that the photobleaching of a common emission at 1.98 ± 0.05 eV can be described by two consistent time constants, namely a first bleaching lifetime of 5 to 10 s, and a second bleaching lifetime in the range of 150 to 220 s. Only the former is environmentally sensitive and can be significantly mitigated by shielding O2, whereas the latter could be the result of carbon-assisted defect migration. Annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy of photobleached hBN allows for visualizing vacancy defects and carbon substitution at single atom resolution, supporting the migration mechanism along with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Thermal annealing at 850 °C of liquid exfoliated hBN eliminates both bleaching processes, leading to persistent photostability. These results represent a significant advance to potentially engineer hBN vacancy emitters with the photostability requisite for quantum applications.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemical Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemical Engineering
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DOI of Published Version
10.1038/s43246-023-00345-8
