Photon statistics analysis of h-BN quantum emitters with pulsed and continuous-wave excitation

Abstract

We report on the quantum photon statistics of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) quantum emitters by analyzing the Mandel Q parameter. We have measured the Mandel Q parameter for h-BN quantum emitters under various temperatures and pump power excitation conditions. Under pulsed excitation we can achieve a Mandel Q of -0.002 and under continuous-wave (CW) excitation this parameter can reach -0.0025. We investigate the effect of cryogenic temperatures on Mandel Q and conclude that the photon statistics vary weakly with temperature. Through calculation of spontaneous emission from an excited two-level emitter model, we demonstrate good agreement between measured and calculated Mandel Q parameter when accounting for the experimental photon collection efficiency. Finally, we illustrate the usefulness of Mandel Q in quantum applications by the example of random number generation and analyze the effect of Mandel Q on the speed of generating random bits via this method.