Single photon emission from plasma treated 2D hexagonal boron nitride

Xu, ZQ; Elbadawi, C; Tran, TT; Kianinia, M; Li, X; Liu, D; Hoffman, TB; Nguyen, M; Kim, S; Edgar, JH; Wu, X; Song, L; Ali, S; Ford, M; Toth, M; Aharonovich, I

Single photon emission from plasma treated 2D hexagonal boron nitride

Xu, ZQ

Elbadawi, C Tran, TT

Kianinia, M Li, X Liu, D Hoffman, TB Nguyen, M Kim, S

Edgar, JH Wu, X Song, L Ali, S

Ford, M

Toth, M

Aharonovich, I

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Nanoscale, 2018, 10 (17), pp. 7957 - 7965
Issue Date:: 2018-05-07

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Xu, ZQ https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7291-1426	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Elbadawi, C	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Tran, TT https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8960-0253	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Kianinia, M	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Li, X	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Liu, D	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Hoffman, TB	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Nguyen, M	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Kim, S https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9836-3608	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Edgar, JH	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Wu, X	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Song, L	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Ali, S https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7865-2664	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Ford, M https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8595-5900	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Toth, M https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1564-4899	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Aharonovich, I https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4304-3935	en_US
dc.date.available	2020-05-25T19:03:40Z
dc.date.issued	2018-05-07	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Nanoscale, 2018, 10 (17), pp. 7957 - 7965	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	2040-3364	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/131003
dc.description.abstract	© 2018 The Royal Society of Chemistry. Artificial atomic systems in solids are becoming increasingly important building blocks in quantum information processing and scalable quantum nanophotonic networks. Amongst numerous candidates, 2D hexagonal boron nitride has recently emerged as a promising platform hosting single photon emitters. Here, we report a number of robust plasma and thermal annealing methods for fabrication of emitters in tape-exfoliated hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) crystals. A two-step process comprising Ar plasma etching and subsequent annealing in Ar is highly robust, and yields an eight-fold increase in the concentration of emitters in hBN. The initial plasma-etching step generates emitters that suffer from blinking and bleaching, whereas the two-step process yields emitters that are photostable at room temperature with emission wavelengths greater than ∼700 nm. Density functional theory modeling suggests that the emitters might be associated with defect complexes that contain oxygen. This is further confirmed by generating the emitters via annealing hBN in air. Our findings advance the present understanding of the structure of quantum emitters in hBN and enhance the nanofabrication toolkit needed to realize integrated quantum nanophotonic circuits.	en_US
dc.relation	http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP140102721
dc.relation	http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP180100077
dc.relation.ispartof	Nanoscale	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1039/c7nr08222c	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Nanoscience & Nanotechnology	en_US
dc.title	Single photon emission from plasma treated 2D hexagonal boron nitride	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	17	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	10	en_US
utslib.for	10 Technology	en_US
utslib.for	02 Physical Sciences	en_US
utslib.for	03 Chemical Sciences	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/DVC (Research)
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Science
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Science/School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - IBMD - Initiative for Biomedical Devices
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - MTEE - Research Centre Materials and Technology for Energy Efficiency
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.issue	17	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	10	en_US

Abstract:

© 2018 The Royal Society of Chemistry. Artificial atomic systems in solids are becoming increasingly important building blocks in quantum information processing and scalable quantum nanophotonic networks. Amongst numerous candidates, 2D hexagonal boron nitride has recently emerged as a promising platform hosting single photon emitters. Here, we report a number of robust plasma and thermal annealing methods for fabrication of emitters in tape-exfoliated hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) crystals. A two-step process comprising Ar plasma etching and subsequent annealing in Ar is highly robust, and yields an eight-fold increase in the concentration of emitters in hBN. The initial plasma-etching step generates emitters that suffer from blinking and bleaching, whereas the two-step process yields emitters that are photostable at room temperature with emission wavelengths greater than ∼700 nm. Density functional theory modeling suggests that the emitters might be associated with defect complexes that contain oxygen. This is further confirmed by generating the emitters via annealing hBN in air. Our findings advance the present understanding of the structure of quantum emitters in hBN and enhance the nanofabrication toolkit needed to realize integrated quantum nanophotonic circuits.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/131003