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Initialization and read-out of intrinsic spin defects in a van der Waals crystal at room temperature

Nature Materials volume 19, pages 540–545 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

Optically addressable spins in wide-bandgap semiconductors are a promising platform for exploring quantum phenomena. While colour centres in three-dimensional crystals such as diamond and silicon carbide were studied in detail, they were not observed experimentally in two-dimensional (2D) materials. Here, we report spin-dependent processes in the 2D material hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). We identify fluorescence lines associated with a particular defect, the negatively charged boron vacancy (\({\mathrm{V}}_{\mathrm{B}}^ -\)), showing a triplet (S = 1) ground state and zero-field splitting of ~3.5 GHz. We establish that this centre exhibits optically detected magnetic resonance at room temperature and demonstrate its spin polarization under optical pumping, which leads to optically induced population inversion of the spin ground state—a prerequisite for coherent spin-manipulation schemes. Our results constitute a step forward in establishing 2D hBN as a prime platform for scalable quantum technologies, with potential for spin-based quantum information and sensing applications.

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Fig. 1: ODMR of an hBN single crystal at room temperature, T = 300 K.
Fig. 2: X-band EPR studies of the \({\mathrm{V}}_{\mathrm{B}}^ -\) centre in the hBN single crystal sample at T = 5 K.
Fig. 3: Determination of the sign of the ZFS parameter D.
Fig. 4: Angular dependence of EPR spectra (green traces) and simulations (blue traces) in hBN single crystal.

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Data availability

The raw data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon request.

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Acknowledgements

V.D. acknowledges financial support from the DFG through the Würzburg-Dresden Cluster of Excellence on Complexity and Topology in Quantum Matter—ct.qmat (EXC 2147, project-id 39085490) and DY18/13-1. V.S. gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Alexander von Humboldt (AvH) Foundation. G.M. acknowledges the support of RSF grant no. 17-72-20053. The Australian Research Council (via DP180100077, DP190101058 and DE180100810), the Asian Office of Aerospace Research and Development grant FA2386-17-1-4064, the Office of Naval Research Global under grant number N62909-18-1-2025 are gratefully acknowledged. I.A. is grateful to the Humboldt Foundation for their generous support. The authors are grateful to the neutron irradiation services at CTDN, Brazil.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Experimental Physics 6 and Würzburg-Dresden Cluster of Excellence, Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany

    Andreas Gottscholl, Victor Soltamov, Christian Kasper, Andreas Sperlich & Vladimir Dyakonov

  2. School of Mathematics and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, New South Wales, Australia

    Mehran Kianinia, Carlo Bradac, Milos Toth & Igor Aharonovich

  3. Kazan Federal University, Kazan, Russia

    Sergei Orlinskii & Georgy Mamin

  4. Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

    Klaus Krambrock

  5. ARC Centre of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, New South Wales, Australia

    Milos Toth & Igor Aharonovich

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Contributions

The experimental set-ups were implemented and the PL, X-EPR and ODMR measurements were performed by A.G., C.K., K.K., M.K., C.B., A.S. and V.S. I.A., M.K., C.B. and M.T. fabricated the samples and performed optical characterization. K.K. performed neutron irradiation. S.O., G.M. and V.S. performed pulsed EPR experiments. V.D. and I.A. conceived and supervised the project. All the authors contributed to analysis of the data, discussions and to the writing of the paper.

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Correspondence to Igor Aharonovich or Vladimir Dyakonov.

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Supplementary Figs. 1−6 with figure captions, discussion and Table 1.

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Gottscholl, A., Kianinia, M., Soltamov, V. et al. Initialization and read-out of intrinsic spin defects in a van der Waals crystal at room temperature. Nat. Mater. 19, 540–545 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-020-0619-6

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