Investigation of the optical properties of single emitters in hBN (Conference Presentation)

Abstract

Among the quantum systems capable of emitting single photons, the class of recently discovered defects in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) is especially interesting, as these defects offer much desired characteristics such as narrow emission lines and photostability. Like for any new class of quantum emitters, the first challenges to solve are the understanding of their photophysics as well as to find ways to facilitate integration in photonics structures. Here, we will show our investigation of the optical transition in hBN with different methods: Employing excitation with a short laser pulse the emission properties in case of linear and non-linear excitation can be compared [1]. The possibility to perform two-photon excitation makes this single photon emitter an interesting candidate as a biosensor. We further show the behaviour of defects in hBN when being excited with different wavelengths and deduce the consequences for its level scheme. Here, it is found that the quantum efficiency of the emitters varies strongly with excitation wavelength, a strong indication of a branched level system with different decay pathways. [1] A W Schell et al., APL Photonics 1, 091302 (2016) [2] A W Schell et al., arXiv:1706.08303 (2017)