One-Step Creation of Quantum Emitter Arrays in Hexagonal Boron Nitride by Local Stress Application

Abstract

Hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) has recently emerged as a promising platform for hosting quantum emitters (QEs) in atomically thin solid-state materials, as it operates at room temperature, possess exceptional brightness, and the two-dimensional nature of hBN enables versatile integration with various photonic elements compared to bulk hosts. However, high-yield fabrication of site-specific QEs at designated locations still requires complicated pre- or post-processes. In this work, QEs are created in defect-free exfoliated hBN through localized stress application in series. Indentation is performed at target positions within the hBN flakes of various thickness without any subsequent post-treatment, resulting in quantum emission from the majority of the indented regions. This technique yields 73% of QE generation per predefined indented site at optimized conditions, highly exceeding the 30？40% yield of previously reported top-down approaches. In addition, the zero phonon line wavelengths of stress-induced QEs are focused at 595 ± 18.9 nm, which implies that the emitters originate from the same family of defects. The facile one-step, on-demand, and high-yield fabrication of QE arrays opens the possibility to realize scalable quantum light sources integrated on chip-scale quantum photonic circuits.