Single photon emitters (SPEs), or quantum emitters, are key components in a wide range of nascent quantum-based technologies, but creation and placement are difficult to control. We describe here a novel paradigm for encoding strain into 2D materials to create and deterministically place SPEs in arbitrary locations with nanometer-scale precision using an atomic force microscope. This quantum calligraphy allows deterministic placement and real time design of arbitrary patterns of SPEs. Because monolayer WSe2 is a direct gap semiconductor, SPE emission at a given wavelength is often intermixed with classical light, reducing the purity of the quantum emission. We show that this undesirable classical emission, arising primarily from defect bound excitonic processes, is significantly suppressed by electrostatic gating or incorporating the WSe2 layer in a simple van der Waals heterostructure, resulting in values of the autocorrelation function g(2)(t=0) as low as 0.07 at low temperature. In addition, the SPE intensity can be strongly modulated by changing the polarity of the gate bias, a feature of technological importance for practical applications.
|