Single-Photon Emission and Quantum Characterization of Zinc Oxide Defects

• Published in: Nano letters Vol. 12; no. 2; pp. 949 - 954
• Main Authors: Morfa, Anthony J, Gibson, Brant C, Karg, Matthias, Karle, Timothy J, Greentree, Andrew D, Mulvaney, Paul, Tomljenovic-Hanic, Snjezana
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 08.02.2012
• Subjects: Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Exact sciences and technology; Ii-vi semiconductors; Membranes, Artificial; Nanocrystals and nanoparticles; Nanoparticles - chemistry; Optical properties and condensed-matter spectroscopy and other interactions of matter with particles and radiation; Optical properties of low-dimensional, mesoscopic, and nanoscale materials and structures; Optical properties of specific thin films; Particle Size; Photons; Physics; Quantum Theory; Surface Properties; Temperature; Zinc Oxide - chemical synthesis; Zinc Oxide - chemistry; zinc vacancy; Zinc oxide; nanoparticle; defect emission; quantum characterization; single-photon source; Vacancies; Photoluminescence; Confocal microscopy; Subband; Correlation functions; Single photon source; Luminescence decay; Defects; Thin films; Nanoparticles; Energy gap; Biocompatibility; Wide band gap semiconductors
• ISSN: 1530-6984; 1530-6992
• DOI: 10.1021/nl204010e

Room temperature single-photon emission and quantum characterization is reported for isolated defects in zinc oxide. The defects are observed in thin films of both in-house synthesized and commercial zinc oxide nanoparticles. Emission spectra in the red and infrared, second-order photon correlation functions, lifetime measurements, and photon count rates are presented. Both two- and three-state emitters are identified. Sub-band gap absorption and red emission suggest these defects are the zinc vacancy. These results identify a new source of single photons in a readily available wide band gap semiconductor material which has exceptional electrical, optical, and biocompatibility properties.