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PHOTON FOUNDRY

SCIENCE VALIDATION

Peer-reviewed foundation for hBN quantum photonics

Illustration of a quantum emitter in monolayer hBN.
FOUNDATION: quantum emitter in monolayer hBN

Photon Foundry is built on a decade of founder-led, peer-reviewed research in hBN emitters, materials, nanofabrication and devices. The below selected papers establish the scientific foundation (not product specifications, manufacturing yield, reliability or commercial availability).

FoundationsEngineeringApplications

FOUNDATIONAL EVIDENCE

Single-photon emitters and spin defects

Selected evidence for single-photon emission, optically addressable spin defects and their physical origins in hBN.

Quantum emission from hBN monolayers

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Peer-reviewed paperNature Nanotechnology2016

Single-photon emission from atomically thin hBN.

Optically addressable spin defects in hBN

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Peer-reviewed paperNature Materials2020

Initialisation and readout of intrinsic hBN spin defects.

Atomic structure of hBN quantum emitters

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Peer-reviewed paperNature Materials2021

Carbon-related defects linked to visible single-photon emission in hBN.

Narrowband spin defects

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Peer-reviewed paperNature Materials2026

Advances hBN toward spin-photon interfaces.

Sketch of a quantum emitter in monolayer hBN.

ENGINEERING EVIDENCE

Growth, deterministic fabrication and photonic coupling

Selected work on hBN growth, controlled emitter creation and emitter-coupled optical structures.

hBN growth and emitter-array fabrication

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Peer-reviewed paperNano Letters2021

Bottom-up growth on dielectric pillars for spatially controlled emitter arrays.

Site-specific blue quantum emitters

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Peer-reviewed paperACS Photonics2022

Deterministic fabrication of blue quantum emitters at selected hBN sites.

Cavity-coupled quantum emitters

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Peer-reviewed paperNano Letters2023

Deterministic fabrication of a coupled cavity-emitter system in hBN.

Spin defects coupled to optical metasurfaces

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Peer-reviewed paperNature Communications2024

hBN spin defects integrated with high-Q quasi-BIC resonances.

Perspective rendering of three parallel one-dimensional photonic-crystal structures in a thin material layer, with an orange glow above the central structure.

PROOF-OF-CONCEPT APPLICATIONS

Communications, sensing, random-number generation and imaging

Selected demonstrations using hBN quantum emitters.

Quantum key distribution with hBN emitters

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Peer-reviewed paperAdvanced Quantum Technologies2023

Room-temperature free-space quantum key distribution.

Fibre-integrated quantum sensor

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Peer-reviewed paperAdvanced Optical Materials2024

hBN quantum sensor using a circular Bragg grating cavity and spin defects.

hBN quantum random number generator

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Peer-reviewed paperJournal of Optics2021

QRNG from single photons routed through integrated photonic waveguides.

Super-resolution imaging

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Peer-reviewed paperNature Communications2018

All-optical control of hBN quantum emitters for super-resolution imaging.

Sketch of a fibre-integrated quantum sensor with a quantum emitter in monolayer hBN.

TRANSLATION

From peer-reviewed science to engineered sources

See how Photon Foundry is translating this research into characterised emitters, photonic structures and packaged-source development.

Explore the technologyView the roadmap