Intrinsic High-Fidelity Spin Polarization of Charged Vacancies in Hexagonal Boron Nitride
The negatively charged boron vacancy (V_{B}^{-}) in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) has garnered significant attention among defects in two-dimensional materials. This owes, in part, to its deterministic generation, well-characterized atomic structure, and optical polarizability at room temperature. We investigate the latter through extensive measurements probing both the ground and excited state polarization dynamics. We develop a semiclassical model based on these measurements that predicts a near-unity degree of spin polarization, surpassing other solid-state spin defects under ambient conditions. Building upon our model, we include the presence of nuclear spin degrees of freedom adjacent to the V_{B}^{-} and perform a comprehensive set of Lindbladian numerics to investigate the hyperfine-induced polarization of the nuclear spins. Our simulations predict a number of important features that emerge as a function of magnetic field which are borne out by experiment.
Authors
- Norman Y. Yao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0194-7266)
- Ruotian Gong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-6167-4326)
- Khanh Pham (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4768-9365)
- Chong Zu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7803-1315)
- Philip Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8255-0086)
- James H. Edgar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0918-5964)
- S. Kim
- W. Lee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0404-1240)
- Xinyi Du (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3705-8818)
- Zeyu Hao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5361-8259)
- Zhe Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8407-3167)
- Vincent Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3419-2990)
- Emily J. Davis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8379-9166)
- Thomas Poirier (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-5258-9160)
Institutions
- Kansas State University (US)
- Harvard University Press (US)
- New York University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical Review Letters
- Published
- 2025-03-06
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.134.096202
- Citations
- 7
- Primary Topic
- Graphene research and applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.62
Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative
- Center for Ultracold Atoms, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Office of Naval Research
- Basic Energy Sciences
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory