Quantum Emission from Defects in Single-Crystalline Hexagonal Boron Nitride

Bulk hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) has recently attracted attention due to its unique directionally dependent optical properties. Usually a metamaterial must be meticulously designed and fabricated, but it happens that hBN is a n0{0ex}a0{0ex}t0{0ex}u0{0ex}r0{0ex}a0{0ex}l0{0ex}l0{0ex}y o0{0ex}c0{0ex}c0{0ex}u0{0ex}r0{0ex}r0{0ex}i0{0ex}n0{0ex}g h0{0ex}y0{0ex}p0{0ex}e0{0ex}r0{0ex}b0{0ex}o0{0ex}l0{0ex}i0{0ex}c m0{0ex}e0{0ex}t0{0ex}a0{0ex}m0{0ex}a0{0ex}t0{0ex}e0{0ex}r0{0ex}i0{0ex}a0{0ex}l. The authors report room-temperature emission of single photons from bulk hBN, and the associated photodynamics. These results point to using hBN as a platform for a broad range of applications in nanophotonics and quantum optics.