Defect spins in two-dimensional materials for quantum sensing and nanophotonics

Optically addressable spin defects like the diamond nitrogen-vacancy center enable versatile applications in precision sensing and nanoscale imaging. Related defects in other materials, especially two-dimensional materials such as hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), offer potential advantages and novel sensing capabilities. Van der Waals materials like hBN can host defects in a precise two-dimensional layer, at a surface that is potentially cleaner than that three-dimensional semiconductors. This talk will introduce the properties of optically active defects in hBN, focusing in particular on their room-temperature optical and spin properties [1,2]. We will also discuss the role of new materials and defects more broadly for use in quantum sensing and other applications in quantum science [3].

[1] A. L. Exarhos, D. A., Hopper, R. R. Grote, A. Alkauskas, and L. C. Bassett, “Optical Signatures of Quantum Emitters in Suspended Hexagonal Boron Nitride” ACS Nano, 11, 3328 (2017).
[2] A. L. Exarhos, D. A. Hopper, R. N. Patel, M. W. Doherty, and L. C. Bassett, “Magnetic-Field-Dependent Quantum Emission in Hexagonal Boron Nitride at Room Temperature” Nature Communications 10, 222 (2019).
[3] L. C. Bassett, A. Alkauskas, A. L. Exarhos, and K.-M. C. Fu, "Quantum defects by design" Nanophotonics 8, 1867 (2019).