EurekAlert April 16, 2020
Unlike other nanomaterials used as quantum light sources, such as diamond, silicon carbide or gallium nitride hexagonal boron nitride is not brittle and comes with the unique stretchable mechanical properties of a van der Waals crystal. However, their spectral inhomogeneity currently limits their potential applications. Researchers in Australia applied tensile strain to quantum emitters embedded in few‐layer hBN films. They observed both red and blue spectral shifts with tuning magnitudes up to 65 meV. Rotation of the optical dipole in response to strain suggested the presence of a second excited state. They developed a theoretical model to describe strain‐based tuning in hBN, and the rotation of the optical dipole. The study demonstrates the immense potential for strain tuning of quantum emitters in layered materials to enable their employment in scalable quantum photonic networks…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
An artist impression showing the evolution of quantum light colour when the atomically thin material is stretched. Credit: Dr. Trong Toan Tran, one of the senior authors of the work.