Strain tunable quantum emission from atomic defects in hexagonal boron nitride for telecom-bands

This study presents extending the tunability of 2D hBN Quantum emitters towards telecom (C-band − 1530 to 1560 nm) and UV-C (solar blind − 100 to 280 nm) optical bands using external strain inducements, for long- and short-range quantum communication (Quantum key distribution (QKD)) applications, respectively. Quantum emitters are the basic building blocks of this QKD (quantum communication or information) technologies, which need to emit single photons over room temperature and capable of tuning the emission wavelength to the above necessary range. Recent literature revealed that quantum emitters in 2D hBN only has the ability to withstand at elevated temperatures and aggressive annealing treatments, but density functional theory (DFT) predictions stated that hBN can only emit the single photons from around 290 to 900 nm (UV to near-IR regions) range. So, there is a need to engineer and further tune the emission wavelength of hBN quantum emitters to the above said bands (necessary for efficient QKD implementation). One of the solutions to tune the emission wavelength is by inducing external strain. In this work, we examine the tunability of quantum emission in hBN with point defects by inducing three different normal strains using DFT computations. We obtained the tunability range up to 255 nm and 1589.5 nm, for the point defects viz boron mono vacancies (V B ) and boron mono vacancies with oxygen atoms (V B O 2 ) respectively, which can enhance the successful implementation of the efficient QKD. We also examine the tunability of the other defects viz. nitrogen mono vacancies, nitrogen mono vacancy with self-interstitials, nitrogen mono vacancy with carbon interstitials, carbon dimers and boron dangling bonds, which revealed the tunable quantum emission in the visible, other UV and IR spectrum ranges and such customized quantum emission can enhance the birth of other quantum photonic devices.