2024/09/03 by Xingyu Gao, Sumukh Vaidya, Gao, Xingyu +17 · 8 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #FOS: Physical sciences #Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) #Quantum Physics (quant-ph) #Quantum and electron transport phenomena
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2409.01601
openalex publication_date 2024/09/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
Optically active spin defects in solids are leading candidates for quantum sensing and quantum networking. Recently, single spin defects were discovered in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), a layered van der Waals (vdW) material. Due to its two-dimensional structure, hBN allows spin defects to be positioned closer to target samples than in three-dimensional crystals, making it ideal for atomic-scale quantum sensing, including nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) of single molecules. However, the chemical structures of these defects remain unknown, and detecting a single nuclear spin with an hBN spin defect has been elusive. In this study, we created single spin defects in hBN using 13C ion implantation and identified three distinct defect types based on hyperfine interactions. We observed both S=1 and S=1/2 spin states within a single hBN spin defect. We demonstrated atomic-scale NMR and coherent control of individual nuclear spins in a vdW material, with a π-gate fidelity up to 99.75% at room temperature. By comparing experimental results with density-functional theory calculations, we propose chemical structures for these spin defects. Our work advances the understanding of single spin defects in hBN and provides a pathway to enhance quantum sensing using hBN spin defects with nuclear spins as quantum memories.