Browsing by Author "Pinilla, Fernanda"

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    Generation of phonon quantum states and quantum correlations among single photon emitters in hexagonal boron nitride
    (2024) Molinares, Hugo; Pinilla, Fernanda; Muñoz Tavera, Enrique; Muñoz, Francisco; Eremeev, Vitalie
    Hexagonal boron nitride exhibits two types of defects with great potential for quantum information technologies: single-photon emitters (SPEs) and one-dimensional grain boundaries hosting topologically-protected phonons, termed as topologically-protected phonon lines (TPL). Here, by means of a simple effective model and density functional theory calculations, we show that it is possible to use these phonons for the transmission of information. Particularly, a single SPE can be used to induce single-, two- and qubit-phonon states in the one-dimensional channel, and (ii) two distant SPEs can be coupled by the TPL that acts as a waveguide, thus exhibiting strong quantum correlations. We highlight the possibilities offered by this material-built-in nano-architecture as a phononic device for quantum information technologies.
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    Spin-active single photon emitters in hexagonal boron nitride from carbon-based defects
    (2023) Pinilla, Fernanda; Vasquez, Nicolas; Chacon, Ignacio; Maze, Jeronimo R.; Cardenas, Carlos; Munoz, Francisco
    Most single photon emitters in hexagonal boron nitride have been identified as carbon substitutional defects, forming donor-acceptor systems. Unlike the most studied bulk emitters (i.e. color centers in diamond), these defects have no net spin, or have a single unpaired spin. By means of density functional calculations, we show that two non-adjacent carbon substitutional defects of the same type (i.e. C-B-C-B, and C-N-C-N), can have a triplet groundstate. In particular, one of such defects has a zero phonon line energy of 2.5 eV, and its triplet state is nearly 0.5 eV more stable than its singlet. The mechanism behind the destabilization of the singlet state is related to a larger electrostatic repulsion of a symmetric wave function in a charged lattice.