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All-electronic Nanosecond-resolved Scanning Tunneling Microscopy: Facilitating the Investigation of Single Dopant Charge Dynamics
Published on: January 19, 2018
Isotopic Control of the Boron-Vacancy Spin Defect in Hexagonal Boron Nitride
T Clua-Provost1, A Durand1, Z Mu1
1Laboratoire Charles Coulomb, Université de Montpellier and CNRS, 34095 Montpellier, France.
Abstract:
We report on electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy of boron-vacancy (V_{B}^{-}) centers hosted in isotopically engineered hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) crystals. We first show that isotopic purification of hBN with ^{15}N yields a simplified and well-resolved hyperfine structure of V_{B}^{-} centers, while purification with ^{10}B leads to narrower ESR linewidths. These results establish isotopically purified h^{10}B^{15}N crystals as the optimal host material for future use of V_{B}^{-} spin defects in quantum technologies. Capitalizing on these findings, we then demonstrate optically induced polarization of ^{15}N nuclei in h^{10}B^{15}N, whose mechanism relies on electron-nuclear spin mixing in the V_{B}^{-} ground state. This work opens up new prospects for future developments of spin-based quantum sensors and simulators on a two-dimensional material platform.
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