Single nuclear spin detection and control in a van der Waals material

Abstract

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 ${}^{13}$C 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 $\pi$-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.

12 pages, 6 figures

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Cited by in corpus (11)

• Creation and Microscopic Origins of Single-Photon Emitters in Transition Metal Dichalcogenides and Hexagonal Boron Nitride
• Coherent Spins in van der Waals Semiconductor GeS2 at Ambient Conditions
• Room-Temperature Electrical Readout of Spin Defects in van der Waals Materials
• Many-Body Entanglement in Solid-State Emitters
• A charge transfer mechanism for optically addressable solid-state spin pairs
• Purcell-enhanced optical refrigeration
• Theory of single molecule NMR detected by real time ESR
• Multi-wavelength Spin Dynamics of Defects in Hexagonal Boron Nitride
• Optical spin defect pairs in cubic boron nitride
• Omnidirectional magnetic imaging of magnetic anisotropy and phase transitions
• Surface defects in carbon-doped hexagonal boron nitride for negative-contrast direct laser writing