Generation of phonon quantum states and quantum correlations among single photon emitters in hexagonal boron nitride

Abstract Hexagonal boron nitride exhibits two types of defects with great potential for quantum information technologies: single-photon emitters (SPEs) and one-dimensional grain boundaries hosting topologically-protected phonons, termed as topologically-protected phonon lines (TPL). Here, by means of a simple effective model and density functional theory calculations, we show that it is possible to use these phonons for the transmission of information. Particularly, a single SPE can be used to induce single-, two- and qubit-phonon states in the one-dimensional channel, and (ii) two distant SPEs can be coupled by the TPL that acts as a waveguide, thus exhibiting strong quantum correlations. We highlight the possibilities offered by this material-built-in nano-architecture as a phononic device for quantum information technologies.