Cost-Efficient Deterministic Engineering of Single Photon Emitters in Two-Dimensional Materials

Two-dimensional materials have recently emerged as promising candidates for quantum light emission. Their tunable bandgaps, layer-dependent excitonic properties, and strong confinement of charge carriers provide a versatile platform for manipulating and controlling quantum states. Several approaches─such as strain engineering, defect engineering and surface functionalization─have been explored to induce single-photon emitters in these materials. In this work, we present a practical and cost-efficient methodology for deterministic strain engineering of single-photon emitters within thin flakes of GaSe. Our approach utilizes optically active microparticles with a distinctive bipyramidal shape, whose emission does not interfere optically with that of GaSe. The results show strong agreement with previous studies on strain-induced single-photon sources in multilayer GaSe, demonstrating that the proposed technique is a promising platform for generating nonclassical light emission in layered materials. Compared to other local strain engineering techniques for single-photon sources in two-dimensional materials, our method offers greater accessibility and lower cost, making it feasible for implementation in most laboratories performing the experimental research in the field. This increased accessibility can help advance the understanding of two-dimensional semiconductor systems and their potential applications in nanophotonics and quantum light technologies.