Devil in the defect detail of quantum emissions unravelled

Emerging quantum technologies require a means to transmit quantum information effectively requiring new ways to reliably encode, transmit and detect quantum properties on individual particles of light, or photons. An international collaboration, led by the University of Technology Sydney, investigating the chemical structure of crystal imperfections, or defects, in the nanomaterial hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) have definitively linked the defect structure to carbon impurities introduced into the hBN lattice. The discovery enables a better understanding of the properties of these quantum light sources.