Enhanced spectral purity of WSe2 quantum emitters via conformal organic adlayers

Abstract

Quantum emitters in solid-state materials are typically embedded in the bulk of their hosts, making their electronic transitions inaccessible to surface modification. In contrast, two-dimensional materials, with their all-surface nature, offer a platform for tuning quantum emitters via chemical functionalization. Because of its semiconducting properties that enable electrical addressability, monolayer WSe₂ is a promising candidate for quantum emission, although the complex interplay between point defects and the localized strain needed to activate quantum emission leads to poor spectral purity. Here, we demonstrate that functionalizing monolayer WSe₂ with conformal adlayers of 3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) improves quantum emission spectral purity. Optical spectroscopy reveals that PTCDA functionalization lowers defect activation energies by 10 meV and induces a 30 nm redshift in quantum emission wavelength, while preserving the bright and dark exciton energies of monolayer WSe₂. First-principles calculations corroborate these findings, thus providing molecular-level insight into the underlying mechanism of enhanced spectral purity.