Oxygen-Based Color Centers in hBN with Near-Infrared Single-Photon Emission

ORAL

Abstract

Color centers in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) are an emerging platform for quantum information technologies. Several classes of hBN color centers have been discovered with broadband single-photon emission (SPE) from UV to visible wavelengths with room temperature operation and spin-optical transitions. Unlike other wide bandgap materials like silicon carbide and diamond, the atomically thin nature of hBN naturally positions defects near a dangling bond-free surface leading to optimal surface SPE operation and maximal photon extraction efficiencies for ease of integration into optoelectronic and photonic devices. We present our recent advancements in characterizing and engineering new hBN color centers associated with oxygen-based defect complexes with ambient operation, ultra narrow linewidths, and NIR emission wavelengths. With simple fabrication techniques, oxygen impurities are introduced to generate these color centers with high yield and density that are localized to cracks, terraces, and flake edges of hBN. This suggests correlations of defect sites to areas of high strain or irregular crystal symmetries. Our results reveal high single-photon purity and a large Debye-Waller factor with a lack of a prominent phonon sideband at both room and cryogenic temperatures, suggesting high internal quantum efficiency. This work opens exciting avenues to pursue photonic cavity integration of oxygen-based color centers in hBN for free space quantum networking and cryptography.

*We gratefully acknowledge support from the UC Santa Barbara NSF Quantum Foundry, UC Santa Barbara InTriQATe Program, and Eddleman Center for Quantum Innovation

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Presenters

  • Sean Doan

    • Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9530, U.S.A.
    • University of California, Santa Barbara

Authors

  • Sean Doan

    • Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9530, U.S.A.
    • University of California, Santa Barbara

  • Sahil Patel

    • Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-5080, U.S.A.
    • University of California, Santa Barbara

  • Jose Villagomez

    • University of California, Santa Barbara

  • Kamyar Parto

    • Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-5080, U.S.A.
    • University of California, Santa Barbara

  • Nick D Lewis

    • University of California, Santa Barbara

  • Malcolm Harris

    • University of California, Santa Barbara

  • Ava Duvall

    • University of California, Santa Barbara

  • Kenji Watanabe

    • National Institute for Materials Science
    • NIMS
    • Research Center for Functional Materials, National Institute for Materials Science
    • Research Center for Electronic and Optical Materials, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba 305-0044, Japan
    • Research Center for Functional Materials, National Institute of Material Science, Tsukuba, Japan
    • National Institute of Materials Science
    • Advanced Materials Laboratory, National Institute for Materials Science

  • Takashi Taniguchi

    • National Institute for Materials Science
    • International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, National Institute for Materials Science
    • Research Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba 305-0044, Japan
    • International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, National Institute of Material Science, Tsukuba, Japan
    • Advanced Materials Laboratory, National Institute for Materials Science

  • Galan Moody

    • Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-5080, U.S.A.
    • University of California, Santa Barbara