TY - JOUR
T1 - Quantum Light in Curved Low Dimensional Hexagonal Boron Nitride Systems
AU - Chejanovsky, Nathan
AU - Kim, Youngwook
AU - Zappe, Andrea
AU - Stuhlhofer, Benjamin
AU - Taniguchi, Takashi
AU - Watanabe, Kenji
AU - Dasari, Durga
AU - Finkler, Amit
AU - Smet, Jurgen H.
AU - Wrachtrup, Jörg
N1 - Funding Information: The authors acknowledge support from the Max Planck Society, the DFG and the EU via the project DIADEMS. AF and YK acknowledge financial support from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. JHS acknowledges financial support from the EU graphene flagship. K.W. and T.T. acknowledge support from the Elemental Strategy Initiative conducted by the MEXT, Japan and JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers JP26248061, JP15K21722 and JP25106006. We thank Torsten Rendler, Matthias Widmann and Nabeel Aslam for technical assistance and Rainer Stöhr for fabrication assistance. We also thank Felipe Fávaro de Oliveira and Seyed Ali Momenzadeh fruitful discussions. We would like to express our gratitude to Felicitas Predel from the Stuttgart Center for Electron Microscopy (StEM) for performing all EDX measurements. We are also grateful to Audrius Alkauskas for a critical reading of the manuscript and fruitful discussions. Contributions N.C., A.F. and D.D. conceived and designed the experiments. N.C. and A.Z. prepared the BNNT samples. N.C. performed all confocal and SEM measurements and together with A.F. and D.D. analyzed the data. A.F. fabricated the diamond pillars, Y.K. performed the Raman measurements, h-BN pillar sample preparation and annealing. B.S. grew the ITO films. T.T. and K.W. grew the single crystal h-BN material. J.W. and J.H.S. supervised the project. N.C. performed the experiments and wrote the manuscript with input from A.F., D.D., J.H.S. and J.W.
PY - 2017/11/7
Y1 - 2017/11/7
N2 - Low-dimensional wide bandgap semiconductors open a new playing field in quantum optics using sub-bandgap excitation. In this field, hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) has been reported to host single quantum emitters (QEs), linking QE density to perimeters. Furthermore, curvature/perimeters in transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have demonstrated a key role in QE formation. We investigate a curvature-Abundant BN system-quasi one-dimensional BN nanotubes (BNNTs) fabricated via a catalyst-free method. We find that non-Treated BNNT is an abundant source of stable QEs and analyze their emission features down to single nanotubes, comparing dispersed/suspended material. Combining high spatial resolution of a scanning electron microscope, we categorize and pin-point emission origin to a scale of less than 20 nm, giving us a one-To-one validation of emission source with dimensions smaller than the laser excitation wavelength, elucidating nano-Antenna effects. Two emission origins emerge: hybrid/entwined BNNT. By artificially curving h-BN flakes, similar QE spectral features are observed. The impact on emission of solvents used in commercial products and curved regions is also demonstrated. The 'out of the box' availability of QEs in BNNT, lacking processing contamination, is a milestone for unraveling their atomic features. These findings open possibilities for precision engineering of QEs, puts h-BN under a similar 'umbrella' of TMDC's QEs and provides a model explaining QEs spatial localization/formation using electron/ion irradiation and chemical etching.
AB - Low-dimensional wide bandgap semiconductors open a new playing field in quantum optics using sub-bandgap excitation. In this field, hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) has been reported to host single quantum emitters (QEs), linking QE density to perimeters. Furthermore, curvature/perimeters in transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have demonstrated a key role in QE formation. We investigate a curvature-Abundant BN system-quasi one-dimensional BN nanotubes (BNNTs) fabricated via a catalyst-free method. We find that non-Treated BNNT is an abundant source of stable QEs and analyze their emission features down to single nanotubes, comparing dispersed/suspended material. Combining high spatial resolution of a scanning electron microscope, we categorize and pin-point emission origin to a scale of less than 20 nm, giving us a one-To-one validation of emission source with dimensions smaller than the laser excitation wavelength, elucidating nano-Antenna effects. Two emission origins emerge: hybrid/entwined BNNT. By artificially curving h-BN flakes, similar QE spectral features are observed. The impact on emission of solvents used in commercial products and curved regions is also demonstrated. The 'out of the box' availability of QEs in BNNT, lacking processing contamination, is a milestone for unraveling their atomic features. These findings open possibilities for precision engineering of QEs, puts h-BN under a similar 'umbrella' of TMDC's QEs and provides a model explaining QEs spatial localization/formation using electron/ion irradiation and chemical etching.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85033460690&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-15398-2
DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-15398-2
M3 - مقالة
C2 - 29116207
SN - 2045-2322
VL - 7
JO - Scientific Reports
JF - Scientific Reports
IS - 1
M1 - 14758
ER -