Quantum emitters in van der Waals α-MoO3

Quantum emitters in solid-state materials are highly promising building blocks for quantum information processing and communication science. Recently, single-photon emission from van der Waals materials has been reported in transition metal dichalcogenides and hexagonal boron nitride, exhibiting the potential to realize photonic quantum technologies in two-dimensional materials. Here, we report the observation of single-photon generation from exfoliated and thermally annealed single crystals of van der Waals α-MoO3. The second-order correlation function measurement displays a clear photon antibunching, while the luminescence intensity exceeds 100 kcounts/s and remains stable under laser excitation. Also, the zero-phonon lines of these emitters are distributed in a spectrally narrow energy range. The theoretical calculation suggests that an oxygen vacancy defect is a possible candidate for the observed emitters. Together with photostability and brightness, quantum emitters in α-MoO3 provide a new avenue to realize photon-based quantum information science in van der Waals materials.