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Description:

Atomic defects in solids offer a versatile basis to study and realize quantum phenomena and information science in various integrated systems. All-electrical pumping of single defects to create quantum light emission has been realized in several platforms including color centers in diamond and silicon carbide, which could lead to the circuit network of electrically triggered single-photon sources. However, a wide conduction channel which reduces the carrier injection per defect site has been a major obstacle. Here, we realize a device concept to construct electrically pumped single-photon emission using a van der Waals stacked structure with atomic plane precision. Defect-induced tunneling currents across graphene and NbSe2 electrodes sandwiching an atomically thin h-BN layer allow robust and persistent generation of nonclassical light from h-BN. The collected emission photon energies range between 1.4 and 2.9 eV, revealing the electrical excitation of a variety of atomic defects. By analyzing the dipole axis of observed emitters, we further confirm that emitters are crystallographic defect structures of h-BN crystal. Our work facilitates implementing efficient and miniaturized single-photon devices in van der Waals platforms toward applications in quantum optoelectronics.

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• In Copyright
  

  This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Article that appeared in final form in ACS Nano, copyright © 2024 American Chemical Society. To access the final published article, see https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.4c10276.

Keyword: Single-photon emission, Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) defect, Van der Waals heterostructure

Date published: 2025-01-14

Publisher: American Chemical Society (ACS)

Journal:

• ACS Nano (ISSN: 1936086X) vol. 19 issue. 1 p. 504-511

Funding:

• Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
• National Research Foundation of Korea 2020R1A2C201133414
• National Research Foundation of Korea 2021R1A5A103299614
• National Research Foundation of Korea RS-2024-00356893
• National Research Foundation of Korea RS-2024-00413957
• Institute for Information and Communications Technology Promotion RS-2022-00164799
• Japan Society for the Promotion of Science 21H05233
• Japan Society for the Promotion of Science 23H02052
• Institute for Basic Science IBS-R009_D1

Manuscript type: Author's version (Accepted manuscript)

MDR DOI:

First published URL: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.4c10276

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Updated at: 2026-07-06 09:41:04 +0900

Published on MDR: 2026-07-06 12:30:04 +0900