Photoluminescence imaging of single photon emitters within nanoscale strain profiles in monolayer WSe2.

Local deformation of atomically thin van der Waals materials provides a powerful approach to create site-controlled chip-compatible single-photon emitters (SPEs). However, the microscopic mechanisms underlying the formation of such strain-induced SPEs are still not fully clear, which hinders further efforts in their deterministic integration with nanophotonic structures for developing practical on-chip sources of quantum light. Here we investigate SPEs with single-photon purity up to 98% created in monolayer WSe2 via nanoindentation. Using photoluminescence imaging in combination with atomic force microscopy, we locate single-photon emitting sites on a deep sub-wavelength spatial scale and reconstruct the details of the surrounding local strain potential. The obtained results suggest that the origin of the observed single-photon emission is likely related to strain-induced spectral shift of dark excitonic states and their hybridization with localized states of individual defects.

Electric field assisted alignment of monoatomic carbon chains.

We stabilize monoatomic carbon chains in water by attaching them to gold nanoparticles (NPs) by means of the laser ablation process. Resulting nanoobjects represent pairs of NPs connected by multiple straight carbon chains of several nanometer lengths. If NPs at the opposite ends of a chain differ in size, the structure acquires a dipole moment due to the difference in work functions of the two NPs. We take advantage of the dipole polarisation of carbon chains for ordering them by the external electric field. We deposit them on a glass substrate by the sputtering method in the presence of static electric fields of magnitudes up to 105 V/m. The formation of one-dimensional carbyne quasi-crystals deposited on a substrate is evidenced by high-resolution TEM and X-ray diffraction measurements. The original kinetic model describing the dynamics of ballistically flowing nano-dipoles reproduces the experimental diagram of orientation of the deposited chains.

Self-Trapping of Exciton-Polariton Condensates in GaAs Microcavities.

The self-trapping of exciton-polariton condensates is demonstrated and explained by the formation of a new polaronlike state. Above the polariton lasing threshold, local variation of the lattice temperature provides the mechanism for an attractive interaction between polaritons. Because of this attraction, the condensate collapses into a small bright spot. Its position and momentum variances approach the Heisenberg quantum limit. The self-trapping does not require either a resonant driving force or a presence of defects. The trapped state is stabilized by the phonon-assisted stimulated scattering of excitons into the polariton condensate. While the formation mechanism of the observed self-trapped state is similar to the Landau-Pekar polaron model, this state is populated by several thousands of quasiparticles, in a striking contrast to the conventional single-particle polaron state.

Permanent Rabi oscillations in coupled exciton-photon systems with PT-symmetry.

We propose a physical mechanism which enables permanent Rabi oscillations in driven-dissipative condensates of exciton-polaritons in semiconductor microcavities subjected to external magnetic fields. The method is based on stimulated scattering of excitons from the incoherent reservoir. We demonstrate that permanent non-decaying oscillations may appear due to the parity-time symmetry of the coupled exciton-photon system realized in a specific regime of pumping to the exciton state and depletion of the reservoir. At non-zero exciton-photon detuning, robust permanent Rabi oscillations occur with unequal amplitudes of exciton and photon components. Our predictions pave way to realization of integrated circuits based on exciton-polariton Rabi oscillators.