Near-infrared Quantum Emitters in 2D Semiconductor Heterobilayers

Solid-state single-photon emitters (SPEs), or quantum emitters, are central building blocks for a number of emerging photonic quantum technologies. As SPE research in 2D materials to date has primarily focused on the visible spectral range, it is highly desirable to extend the emission range of 2D SPEs to the technologically important near-infrared (NIR) regime. 

I will present the site-controlled creation of NIR SPEs in 2D transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) MoX₂/WX₂ heterobilayers. The emission of non-classical light is induced through the deterministic implantation of localized strain using a scalable, nanopillar-based, strain engineering technique. The interlayer excitons trapped by the strain-induced potential wells produce bright, narrow-bandwidth photoluminescence (PL) with emission wavelength ranging from 900 nm to 1 μm. Our Hanbury Brown and Twiss (HBT) experiment yielded near-complete photon antibunching, unambiguously proving the quantum nature of the emitters. The high-purity single-photon emission can be maintained at liquid nitrogen temperature without a significant decrease in the emission intensity. These new discoveries extend the emission range of 2D SPEs to the NIR regime.