Site-selectively generated photon emitters in monolayer MoS via local helium ion irradiation

Lighting up the quantum world

26 December 2019

A new fabrication technique has realized unprecedented control of the positioning of quantum lights sources.

Technologies that use light instead of electricity to carry information are based on optical circuits that contain quantum light sources. Controlling the positions of quantum light sources in ultrathin layers of semiconducting materials could pave the way for new quantum technologies, including quantum transistors and sensors and new encryption devices for data transmission.

But precisely positioning quantum light sources in atomically thin materials has proved challenging.

Now, an international team led by researchers from the Technical University of Munich in Germany has positioned quantum light sources in layers of molybdenum disulphide only three atoms thick with an accuracy of just a few nanometres. Using a focussed beam of helium ions to remove molybdenum or sulphur atoms, they selectively created electron−hole pairs that act as quantum light sources.

This work lays the foundations for quantum technologies that transmit information at the speed of light.

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References

1. Nature Communications 10, 2755 (2019). doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-10632-z