Photonic crystal cavities from hexagonal boron nitride.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 29976925.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-018-05117-4 and PMC identifier 6033931.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Development of scalable quantum photonic technologies requires on-chip integration of photonic components. Recently, hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) has emerged as a promising platform, following reports of hyperbolic phonon-polaritons and optically stable, ultra-bright quantum emitters. However, exploitation of hBN in scalable, on-chip nanophotonic circuits and cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) experiments requires robust techniques for the fabrication of high-quality optical resonators. In this letter, we design and engineer suspended photonic crystal cavities from hBN and demonstrate quality (Q) factors in excess of 2000. Subsequently, we show deterministic, iterative tuning of individual cavities by direct-write EBIE without significant degradation of the Q-factor. The demonstration of tunable cavities made from hBN is an unprecedented advance in nanophotonics based on van der Waals materials. Our results and hBN processing methods open up promising avenues for solid-state systems with applications in integrated quantum photonics, polaritonics and cavity QED experiments.