Single photon emission from ZnO nanoparticles

Abstract

Room temperature single photon emitters are very important resources for photonics and emerging quantum technologies. In this work we study single photon emission from defect centers in 20 nm zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles. The emitters exhibit bright broadband fluorescence in the red spectral range centered at 640 nm with polarized excitation and emission. The studied emitters showed continuous blinking, however, bleaching can be suppressed using a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) coating. Furthermore, hydrogen termination increased the density of single photon emitters. Our results will contribute to the identification of quantum systems in ZnO.