Room-temperature phonon-coupled single-photon emission in hexagonal boron nitride

• Published in: Science China. Physics, mechanics & astronomy Vol. 67; no. 5; p. 257311
• Main Authors: Lai, Jia-Min, Tan, Qing-Hai, Song, Feilong, Chang, Haonan, Lv, Yanpei, Liu, Xue-Lu, Teng, Jinghua, Gao, Weibo, Tan, Ping-Heng, Zhang, Jun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Beijing Science China Press 01.05.2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Astronomy; Boron; Boron nitride; Classical and Continuum Physics; Coupling; Defects; Emissions; Excitation spectra; Fock state; Lasers; Materials science; Observations and Techniques; Phonons; Photoluminescence; Photon emission; Photons; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Quantum phenomena; Room temperature; Spectrum analysis; photon-phonon coupling; hexagonal boron nitride; single-photon emission
• ISSN: 1674-7348; 1869-1927
• DOI: 10.1007/s11433-023-2327-5

Photon-lattice (phonon) coupling is fundamental to light-matter interaction, particularly when it reaches the quantum limit of the phonon-coupled single-photon emission, which holds great potential for quantum manipulation and quantum information transduction. Here, we report single defect state-phonon coupling in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) at room temperature. An ultrabroad spectrum of single-photon emissions can be achieved by selecting the excitation energies. Using photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy, we observe single-phonon-assisted resonance-enhanced single-photon emission, along with multiple phonon replicas that herald the creation of phonon Fock state. We also develop a transition model to gain insight into the physical process behind the single defect state-phonon coupling. Our work sets the stage for manipulating electron-phonon coupling state with single quantum-level precision at room temperature.