Two-dimensional materials hosting optically addressable electronic states offer a unique physical platform for quantum engineering due to intrinsic spatial confinement and the ability to create multifunctional layered materials. Defect-related quantum emitters (QEs) exhibiting room-temperature photoluminescence (PL) have been identified in the wide-bandgap van der Waals material hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), although many questions remain regarding the defects’ chemical and electronic structure. In recent experiments, we have discovered that select QEs in h-BN exhibit striking changes in steady-state PL intensity in response to an applied magnetic field, even at room temperature (Fig. 1). The changes in steady-state PL are accompanied by corresponding changes to the photon emission statistics, indicative of magnetic-field-dependent modulation of the population of a metastable, nonradiative state. The system is in some ways analogous to other optically addressable spin defects such as the nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond, however the reduced symmetry of the system leads to markedly different anisotropic patterns of magnetic-field-dependent PL. I will discuss these results along with ongoing efforts to control the creation and stabilization of hBN’s quantum emitters, and experiments to elucidate their electronic and chemical structure. Ultimately, the discovery of optically addressable spins in room-temperature h-BN ushers in a new platform for spin-based quantum technologies with the potential for atom-scale engineering and versatile functionality.

Optically addressable spins in hexagonal boron nitride at room temperature

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.