title: Single-photon emission and quantum characterization of zinc oxide defects.
abstract: Room temperature single-photon emission and quantum characterization is reported for isolated defects in zinc oxide. The defects are observed in thin films of both in-house synthesized and commercial zinc oxide nanoparticles. Emission spectra in the red and infrared, second-order photon correlation functions, lifetime measurements, and photon count rates are presented. Both two- and three-state emitters are identified. Sub-band gap absorption and red emission suggest these defects are the zinc vacancy. These results identify a new source of single photons in a readily available wide band gap semiconductor material which has exceptional electrical, optical, and biocompatibility properties.
authors.affiliation: Bio21 Institute and School of Chemistry, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia. amorfa@unimelb.edu.au
authors.forename: Anthony J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Morfa
authors.forename: Brant C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Gibson
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Karg
authors.forename: Timothy J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Karle
authors.forename: Andrew D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Greentree
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mulvaney
authors.forename: Snjezana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tomljenovic-Hanic
mesh_terms: D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry; D010316:Particle Size; D017785:Photons; D011789:Quantum Theory; D013499:Surface Properties; D013696:Temperature; D015034:Zinc Oxide / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D015034:Zinc Oxide