Single photon generation from AlGaN exciton localization centers exhibiting narrow spectral linewidths

We report the discovery and characterization of single-photon-emitting carrier localization centers that are spontaneously formed along misfit dislocations in AlGaN. The emitters exhibit extremely narrow linewidths, which are in some cases narrower than our resolution limit of 35 mu eV. Spectral analysis reveals a record-low inhomogeneous broadening (smaller than 20 mu eV), which can be characterized as almost spectral-diffusion free. Such narrow linewidths allow for an unprecedented discussion of the homogeneous linewidths of quantum emitters in the III-nitrides and, in the current case, provide a lower bound on the pure-dephasing time T-2 of & SIM;200 ps. These experimental results will pave the way to further improve the performance of III-nitride low-dimensional nanostructure-based quantum emitters. (c) 2021 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Automated summary

This study reports the discovery and characterization of single-photon-emitting carrier localization centers spontaneously formed along misfit dislocations in AlGaN. The emitters exhibit extremely narrow linewidths and record-low inhomogeneous broadening. These experimental results are expected to pave the way for improving the performance of III-nitride low-dimensional nanostructure-based quantum emitters.