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arXiv:2506.16980 · Nature Communications

Resonance fluorescence and indistinguishable photons from a coherently driven B centre in hBN

Domitille Gérard, Stéphanie Buil, Kenji Watanabe, Takashi Taniguchi, Jean‐Pierre Hermier, Aymeric Delteil

Published Feb 11, 2026• 5 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Optically active defects in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) have become amongst the most attractive single-photon emitters in the solid state, owing to their high-quality photophysical properties, combined with the unlimited possibilities of integration offered by the host van der Waals material. In particular, the B centres, with their narrow linewidth, low wavelength spread and controllable positioning, have raised a particular interest for integrated quantum photonics. However, to date, either their excitation or their detection has been performed non-resonantly due to the difficulty of rejecting the backreflected laser light at the same wavelength, thereby preventing to take full benefit from their high coherence in quantum protocols. Here, we make use of narrow-linewidth emitters integrated in a hybrid metal-dielectric structure to implement cross-polarisation laser rejection. This allows us to observe resonantly scattered photons, with associated experimental signatures of optical coherence in both continuous-wave (cw) and pulsed regimes, respectively the Mollow triplet and Hong-Ou-Mandel interference from zero-phonon-line emission. The two-photon interference visibilities of $$0.9{3}_{-0.21}^{+0.07}$$ and $$0.9{2}_{-0.26}^{+0.08}$$ we measured for two emitters demonstrate the potential of B centres in hBN for applications to integrated quantum information. Single-photon sources in van der Waals materials offer new perspectives of integration for quantum information applications. Here, the authors implement resonance fluorescence of a single colour centre in hBN, a quantum optics regime that simultaneously allows for emitter coherent control and generation of indistinguishable photons.

DOI
10.1038/s41467-026-68555-5

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Optically active defects in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) have become amongst the most attractive single-photon emitters in the solid state, owing to their high-quality photophysical properties, combined with the unlimited possibilities of integration offered by the host van der Waals material. In particular, the B centres, with their narrow linewidth, low wavelength spread and controllable positioning, have raised a particular interest for integrated quantum photonics. However, to date, either their excitation or their detection has been performed non-resonantly due to the difficulty of rejecting the backreflected laser light at the same wavelength, thereby preventing to take full benefit from their high coherence in quantum protocols. Here, we make use of narrow-linewidth emitters integrated in a hybrid metal-dielectric structure to implement cross-polarisation laser rejection. This allows us to observe resonantly scattered photons, with associated experimental signatures of optical coherence in both continuous-wave (cw) and pulsed regimes, respectively the Mollow triplet and Hong-Ou-Mandel interference from zero-phonon-line emission. The two-photon interference visibilities of 0.93−0.21+0.070.9{3}_{-0.21}^{+0.07}0.93−0.21+0.07​ and 0.92−0.26+0.080.9{2}_{-0.26}^{+0.08}0.92−0.26+0.08​ we measured for two emitters demonstrate the potential of B centres in hBN for applications to integrated quantum information. Single-photon sources in van der Waals materials offer new perspectives of integration for quantum information applications. Here, the authors implement resonance fluorescence of a single colour centre in hBN, a quantum optics regime that simultaneously allows for emitter coherent control and generation of indistinguishable photons.
Single-photon sources are crucial components for building quantum networks and communications, but their optical coherent control remains a significant challenge in the development of quantum technologies. Recently, single-photon sources in atomically thin 2D materials such as transition metal dichalcogenides and van der Waals materials have emerged as promising solid-state quantum light emitters [1]. Hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) is a 2D insulator, which hosts optically active states in its band gap that efficiently emit single photons even at room temperature. The wide range of emission wavelengths, narrow emission lines, and convenient tunability of these hBN emitters make them particularly interesting for quantum sensing and wavelength division multiplexed quantum communications. They can also be found in commercially available nanocrystals, making them ideal for creating large arrays of single-photon emitters [2] and efficient coupling to photonic structures, such as 3D-printed microlenses [3].
Indistinguishable single photons are a key requirement for most applications in optical quantum information. However, this feature has remained elusive among two-dimensional materials, primarily due to insufficient coherence of emitters. Here the authors controllably generate a spectrally narrow and stable single-photon source in an h-BN crystal by electron-beam irradiation, and demonstrate Hong-Ou-Mandel interference of the emitted photons, which is a signature of indistinguishability. These results enable practical applications in integrated quantum photonics based on two-dimensional materials.
Color centers hosted in hexagonal boron nitride have emerged as a highly promising platform for single-photon emission and spin-photon technologies relevant to quantum communication and quantum networking. As a wide-bandgap van der Waals material, hBN can host optically active quantum defects across a broad spectral range. Here, we demonstrate a simple and scalable oxygen-plasma process that reproducibly creates single quantum emitters in hBN with blinking-free zero-phonon lines spanning the near-infrared from 700 up to 971 nm. These emitters combine MHz-level brightness, single-photon purity up to 99.9\%, and ultranarrow cryogenic linewidths down to 2.7~GHz under quasi-resonant excitation, placing them in a particularly attractive regime for quantum photonics. Photostability measurements further reveal resistance to photobleaching, sub-nm spectral stability over long timescales, and near-shot-noise-limited intensity fluctuations. Analysis of the phonon sidebands shows weak vibronic coupling and ZPL-dominated emission, with Debye--Waller factors approaching 50\%. Control experiments together with EDS elemental mapping support oxygen incorporation as a necessary ingredient in activating the NIR emitter population, while first-principles calculations identify ON_NN​VN_NN​ and ON_NN​VN_NN​H as the leading defect candidates. These results establish a high-performance NIR quantum-emitter platform in hBN for free-space quantum networking and future integrated quantum-photonic architectures.
Hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), a wide-bandgap 2D material, is rapidly emerging as a promising candidate for quantum optics experiments. In this work, we demonstrate, to the best of our knowledge, the first signature of Rabi oscillations, the time-domain analogue of the Mollow triplet, from a resonantly driven hBN quantum emitter. Resonant photoluminescence excitation measurements reveal that the emitter undergoes strong spectral diffusion with a time scale of 37±25  ms, resulting in a 0.6 GHz spectral diffusion broadened linewidth at the weak excitation limit. We further realize resonance fluorescence from the same emitter using a cross-polarized setup. The results shown here present an important step toward utilizing coherent optical control in 2D materials for the realization of scalable quantum information processing.
Defects in solid-state systems constitute a promising platform for the realization of deterministic quantum emitters. Among many candidate materials and emitters, point defects in hexagonal Boron Nitride (hBN) have recently emerged as particularly promising. In this work, we probe the coherence of an individual B center with a zero phonon line at 436 nm, under pulsed resonant excitation. We observe power-dependent Rabi oscillations up to 5π, demonstrating optical coherent control of the transition. We achieve an excellent single photon purity of 93% at π-pulse. Furthermore, we probe the coherence of the two-level system using Ramsey interferometry, revealing an inhomogeneous coherence time of T_2*=0.60 ns. These results establish B centers in hBN as viable candidates for triggered, coherent quantum emitters and represent an important step towards their integration into quantum photonic platforms.
Collective light emission from many-body quantum systems is a cornerstone of quantum optics, yet its implementation in solid-state platforms operating under ambient conditions remains highly challenging. Large-bandgap van der Waals materials such as hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) host stable room-temperature single-photon emitters with narrow linewidths across a broad spectral range. However, cooperative radiative effects in this system have not been previously explored. Here we demonstrate collective emission from quantum-emitter ensembles in hBN layers when the emitters are nearly indistinguishable and positioned within a sub-wavelength proximity. Using confocal microscopy and a Hanbury Brown-Twiss (HBT) configuration, we identify both isolated emitters and ensembles activated by localized electron-beam irradiation. Time-resolved photoluminescence measurements reveal a superlinear intensity enhancement and a pronounced acceleration of the radiative decay in tightly confined ensembles, with lifetimes approaching the temporal resolution of our experimental system (about 500 ps), compared to approximately 1.85 ns for single emitters or large, spatially extended ensembles. Complementary second-order photon-correlation measurements exhibit sub-Poissonian antidip consistent with emission from a few indistinguishable emitters. The simultaneous observation of lifetime shortening and enhanced emission provides direct evidence of cooperative emission at room temperature, achieved without optical cavities or cryogenic cooling. These results establish optically active defect ensembles in hBN as a scalable solid-state platform for engineered collective quantum optics in two-dimensional materials, opening avenues toward ultrabright superradiant light sources and nonclassical photonic states for quantum technologies.