Elementary excitations of single-photon emitters in hexagonal Boron Nitride

Abstract

Single-photon emitters serve as building blocks for many emerging concepts in quantum photonics. The recent identification of bright, tunable, and stable emitters in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) has opened the door to quantum platforms operating across the infrared to ultraviolet spectrum. While it is widely acknowledged that defects are responsible for single-photon emitters in hBN, crucial details regarding their origin, electronic levels, and orbital involvement remain unknown. Here, we employ a combination of resonant inelastic X-ray scattering and photoluminescence spectroscopy in defective hBN unveiling an elementary excitation at 285 meV that gives rise to a plethora of harmonics correlated with single-photon emitters. We discuss the importance of N ${\pi }^{\ast }$ antibonding orbitals in shaping the electronic states of the emitters. The discovery of the elementary excitations of hBN provides new fundamental insights into quantum emission in low-dimensional materials, paving the way for future investigations in other platforms.

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Cited by in corpus (5)

• Single nuclear spin detection and control in a van der Waals material
• Room-Temperature High-Purity Single Photon Emission from Carbon-Doped Boron Nitride Thin Films
• Site-Controlled Purcell-Induced Bright Single Photon Emitters in Hexagonal Boron Nitride
• Violet to near-infrared optical addressing of spin pairs in hexagonal boron nitride
• A charge transfer mechanism for optically addressable solid-state spin pairs