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Title: Electrically driven photon emission from individual atomic defects in monolayer WS 2

Abstract

Quantum dot–like single-photon sources in transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) exhibit appealing quantum optical properties but lack a well-defined atomic structure and are subject to large spectral variability. Here, we demonstrate electrically stimulated photon emission from individual atomic defects in monolayer WS 2 and directly correlate the emission with the local atomic and electronic structure. Radiative transitions are locally excited by sequential inelastic electron tunneling from a metallic tip into selected discrete defect states in the WS 2 bandgap. Coupling to the optical far field is mediated by tip plasmons, which transduce the excess energy into a single photon. The applied tip-sample voltage determines the transition energy. Atomically resolved emission maps of individual point defects closely resemble electronic defect orbitals, the final states of the optical transitions. Inelastic charge carrier injection into localized defect states of two-dimensional materials provides a powerful platform for electrically driven, broadly tunable, atomic-scale single-photon sources.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [4]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, CA 94720, USA.
  2. Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, CA 94720, USA., Walter-Schottky-Institut and Physik-Department, Technical University of Munich, Garching 85748, Germany.
  3. Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, CA 94720, USA., Department of Physics, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA.
  4. ICFO-Institut de Ciències Fotòniques, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, 08860 Castelldefels, Barcelona, Spain., ICREA-Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, 08010 Barcelona, Spain.
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC); Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF); Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation of Spain (MINECO); European Research Council (ERC)
OSTI Identifier:
1664431
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1706663
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-05CH11231; Early Career Award; P2SKP2171770; MAT2017-88492-R; SEV2015-0522; 789104-eNANO
Resource Type:
Published Article
Journal Name:
Science Advances
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Science Advances Journal Volume: 6 Journal Issue: 38; Journal ID: ISSN 2375-2548
Publisher:
AAAS
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS

Citation Formats

Schuler, Bruno, Cochrane, Katherine A., Kastl, Christoph, Barnard, Edward S., Wong, Edward, Borys, Nicholas J., Schwartzberg, Adam M., Ogletree, D. Frank, de Abajo, F. Javier García, and Weber-Bargioni, Alexander. Electrically driven photon emission from individual atomic defects in monolayer WS 2. United States: N. p., 2020. Web. doi:10.1126/sciadv.abb5988.
Schuler, Bruno, Cochrane, Katherine A., Kastl, Christoph, Barnard, Edward S., Wong, Edward, Borys, Nicholas J., Schwartzberg, Adam M., Ogletree, D. Frank, de Abajo, F. Javier García, & Weber-Bargioni, Alexander. Electrically driven photon emission from individual atomic defects in monolayer WS 2. United States. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abb5988
Schuler, Bruno, Cochrane, Katherine A., Kastl, Christoph, Barnard, Edward S., Wong, Edward, Borys, Nicholas J., Schwartzberg, Adam M., Ogletree, D. Frank, de Abajo, F. Javier García, and Weber-Bargioni, Alexander. Wed . "Electrically driven photon emission from individual atomic defects in monolayer WS 2". United States. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abb5988.
@article{osti_1664431,
title = {Electrically driven photon emission from individual atomic defects in monolayer WS 2},
author = {Schuler, Bruno and Cochrane, Katherine A. and Kastl, Christoph and Barnard, Edward S. and Wong, Edward and Borys, Nicholas J. and Schwartzberg, Adam M. and Ogletree, D. Frank and de Abajo, F. Javier García and Weber-Bargioni, Alexander},
abstractNote = {Quantum dot–like single-photon sources in transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) exhibit appealing quantum optical properties but lack a well-defined atomic structure and are subject to large spectral variability. Here, we demonstrate electrically stimulated photon emission from individual atomic defects in monolayer WS 2 and directly correlate the emission with the local atomic and electronic structure. Radiative transitions are locally excited by sequential inelastic electron tunneling from a metallic tip into selected discrete defect states in the WS 2 bandgap. Coupling to the optical far field is mediated by tip plasmons, which transduce the excess energy into a single photon. The applied tip-sample voltage determines the transition energy. Atomically resolved emission maps of individual point defects closely resemble electronic defect orbitals, the final states of the optical transitions. Inelastic charge carrier injection into localized defect states of two-dimensional materials provides a powerful platform for electrically driven, broadly tunable, atomic-scale single-photon sources.},
doi = {10.1126/sciadv.abb5988},
journal = {Science Advances},
number = 38,
volume = 6,
place = {United States},
year = {2020},
month = {9}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abb5988

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