Single-photon emitters (SPEs) are promising building blocks for practical devices in quantum technologies. Traditionally, these systems are excited using off-resonant visible light through their phonon transitions, yet this process remains poorly understood. Here, we explore the interaction of mid-infrared (MIR) excitation with the properties of SPEs in hexagonal boron nitride. Notably, we present a reversible, nondestructive method to enhance emission from blue SPEs using MIR coexcitation. By resonantly driving defect-localized in-plane infrared-active optical phonon modes near 7.3 μm, the MIR field modulates carrier dynamics through a phonon-assisted recombination.This unique feature, not observed previously for defects in solids, is a promising reservoir in a growing toolkit to modulate quantum emitters at room temperature for their use in practical quantum technologies.
Yamamura et al. (2026) studied this question.