Robust Nuclear Spin Polarization via Ground-State Level Anticrossing of Boron Vacancy Defects in Hexagonal Boron Nitride
Shihao Ru, Zhengzhi Jiang, Haidong Liang, Jonathan Kenny, Hongbing Cai, Xiaodan Lyu, Robert Čerňanský, Feifei Zhou, Yuzhe Yang, Kenji Watanabe, Takashi Taniguch, Fuli Li, Teck Seng Koh, Xiaogang Liu, Fedor Jelezko, Andrew A. Bettiol, Weibo Gao
Abstract
Nuclear spin polarization plays a crucial role in quantum information processing and quantum sensing. In this work, we demonstrate a robust and efficient method for nuclear spin polarization with boron vacancy (V_{B}^{-}) defects in hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) using ground-state level anticrossing (GSLAC). We show that GSLAC-assisted nuclear polarization can be achieved with significantly lower laser power than excited-state level anticrossing, making the process experimentally more viable. Furthermore, we have demonstrated direct optical readout of nuclear spins for V_{B}^{-} in h-BN. Our findings suggest that GSLAC is a promising technique for the precise control and manipulation of nuclear spins in V_{B}^{-} defects in h-BN.