TY - JOUR
T1 - Nanoscale Imaging and Control of Hexagonal Boron Nitride Single Photon Emitters by a Resonant Nanoantenna
AU - Palombo Blascetta, Nicola
AU - Liebel, Matz
AU - Lu, Xiaobo
AU - Taniguchi, Takashi
AU - Watanabe, Kenji
AU - Efetov, Dmitri K.
AU - Van Hulst, Niek F.
PY - 2020/3/11
Y1 - 2020/3/11
N2 - Defect centers in two-dimensional hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) are drawing attention as single-photon emitters with high photostability at room temperature. With their ultrahigh photon-stability, hBN single-photon emitters are promising for new applications in quantum technologies and for 2D-material based optoelectronics. Here, we control the emission rate of hBN-defects by coupling to resonant plasmonic nanocavities. By deterministic control of the antenna, we acquire high-resolution emission maps of the single hBN-defects. Using time-gating, we can discriminate the hBN-defect emission from the antenna luminescence. We observe sharp dips (40 nm fwhm) in emission, together with a reduction in luminescence lifetime. Comparing with finite-difference time-domain simulations, we conclude that both radiative and nonradiative rates are enhanced, effectively reducing the quantum efficiency. Also, the large refractive index of hBN largely screens off the local antenna field enhancement. Finally, based on the insight gained we propose a close-contact design for an order of magnitude brighter hBN single-photon emission.
AB - Defect centers in two-dimensional hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) are drawing attention as single-photon emitters with high photostability at room temperature. With their ultrahigh photon-stability, hBN single-photon emitters are promising for new applications in quantum technologies and for 2D-material based optoelectronics. Here, we control the emission rate of hBN-defects by coupling to resonant plasmonic nanocavities. By deterministic control of the antenna, we acquire high-resolution emission maps of the single hBN-defects. Using time-gating, we can discriminate the hBN-defect emission from the antenna luminescence. We observe sharp dips (40 nm fwhm) in emission, together with a reduction in luminescence lifetime. Comparing with finite-difference time-domain simulations, we conclude that both radiative and nonradiative rates are enhanced, effectively reducing the quantum efficiency. Also, the large refractive index of hBN largely screens off the local antenna field enhancement. Finally, based on the insight gained we propose a close-contact design for an order of magnitude brighter hBN single-photon emission.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85080858112&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acs.nanolett.9b05268
DO - 10.1021/acs.nanolett.9b05268
M3 - Article
SN - 1530-6984
VL - 20
SP - 1992
EP - 1999
JO - Nano Letters
JF - Nano Letters
IS - 3
ER -