Investigating the fast spectral diffusion of a quantum emitter in hBN using resonant excitation and photon correlations

The ability to identify and characterize homogeneous and inhomogeneous dephasing processes is crucial in solid-state quantum optics. In particular, spectral diffusion leading to line broadening is difficult to evidence when the associated time scale is shorter than the inverse of the photon detection rate. Here, we show that a combination of resonant laser excitation and second-order photon correlations allows us to access such fast dynamics. The resonant laser drive converts spectral diffusion into intensity fluctuations, leaving a signature in the second-order correlation function g(2)(r) of the scattered light that can be characterized using two-photon coincidences, which simultaneously provides the homogeneous dephasing time. We experimentally implement this method to investigate the fast spectral diffusion of a color center generated by an electron beam in the two-dimensional material hexagonal boron nitride. The g(2)(r) function of the quantum emitter measured over more than ten orders of magnitude of delay times, at various laser powers, establishes that the color center experiences spectral diffusion at a characteristic time scale of a few tens of microseconds, while emitting Fourier-limited single photons (T2/2T1 similar to 1) between spectral jumps.