Open AccessControlling the optical properties of carbon nanotubes with organic colour-centre quantum defects
Author(s) -
Alexandra H. Brozena,
Mijin Kim,
Lyndsey R. Powell,
YuHuang Wang
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
nature reviews. chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 16.465
H-Index - 50
ISSN - 2397-3358
DOI - 10.1038/s41570-019-0103-5
Subject(s) - carbon nanotube , materials science , phonon , nanotechnology , quantum , exciton , photon , electron , quantum technology , optoelectronics , condensed matter physics , physics , open quantum system , quantum mechanics
Previously unwelcome, defects are emerging as a new frontier of research, providing a molecular focal point to study the coupling of electrons, excitons, phonons and spin in low-dimensional materials. This opportunity is particularly intriguing in semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes, in which covalently bonding organic functional groups to the sp 2 carbon lattice can produce tunable sp 3 quantum defects that fluoresce brightly in the shortwave IR, emitting pure single photons at room temperature. These novel physical properties have made such synthetic defects, or 'organic colour centres', exciting new systems for chemistry, physics, materials science, engineering and quantum technologies. This Review examines progress in this emerging field and presents a unified description of this new family of quantum emitters, as well as providing an outlook of the rapidly expanding research and applications of synthetic defects.