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Voltage-controlled quantum light from an atomically thin semiconductor

Nature Nanotechnology volume 10, pages 507–511 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

Although semiconductor defects can often be detrimental to device performance, they are also responsible for the breadth of functionality exhibited by modern optoelectronic devices1. Artificially engineered defects (so-called quantum dots) or naturally occurring defects in solids are currently being investigated for applications ranging from quantum information science2,3 and optoelectronics4 to high-resolution metrology5. In parallel, the quantum confinement exhibited by atomically thin materials (semi-metals, semiconductors and insulators) has ushered in an era of flatland optoelectronics whose full potential is still being articulated6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18. In this Letter we demonstrate the possibility of leveraging the atomically thin semiconductor tungsten diselenide (WSe2) as a host for quantum dot-like defects. We report that this previously unexplored solid-state quantum emitter in WSe2 generates single photons with emission properties that can be controlled via the application of external d.c. electric and magnetic fields. These new optically active quantum dots exhibit excited-state lifetimes on the order of 1 ns and remarkably large excitonic g-factors of 10. It is anticipated that WSe2 quantum dots will provide a novel platform for integrated solid-state quantum photonics2,3 and quantum information processing19, as well as a rich condensed-matter physics playground with which to explore the coupling of quantum dots and atomically thin semiconductors.

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Figure 1: Device and emission spectra.
Figure 2: Quantum dot light emission.
Figure 3: Voltage-controlled quantum light generation.
Figure 4: Magneto-optical spectroscopy.

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Acknowledgements

A.N.V. acknowledges support from the Institute of Optics and National Science Foundation DMR award no. 1309734.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Materials Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, 14627, New York, USA

    Chitraleema Chakraborty & A. Nick Vamivakas

  2. Department of Physics, University of Rochester, Rochester, 14627, New York, USA

    Laura Kinnischtzke

  3. Center for Coherence and Quantum Optics, University of Rochester, Rochester, 14627, New York, USA

    Laura Kinnischtzke, Kenneth M. Goodfellow & A. Nick Vamivakas

  4. Institute of Optics, University of Rochester, Rochester, 14627, New York, USA

    Kenneth M. Goodfellow & A. Nick Vamivakas

  5. Material Measurement Lab, National Institute of Standards and Technology Gaithersburg, 20899, Maryland, USA

    Ryan Beams

Authors
  1. Chitraleema Chakraborty
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  3. Kenneth M. Goodfellow
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  4. Ryan Beams
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  5. A. Nick Vamivakas
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Contributions

R.B. and A.N.V. conceived the research. C.C. and K.G. fabricated the samples. C.C., L.K. and A.N.V. conducted the measurements. All authors discussed the data and wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to A. Nick Vamivakas.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Chakraborty, C., Kinnischtzke, L., Goodfellow, K. et al. Voltage-controlled quantum light from an atomically thin semiconductor. Nature Nanotech 10, 507–511 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2015.79

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