Coupling Spin Defects in a Layered Material to Nanoscale Plasmonic Cavities

Noah Mendelson, Ritika Ritika, Mehran Kianinia, John Scott, Sejeong Kim, Johannes E. Fröch, Camilla Gazzana, Mika Westerhausen, Licheng Xiao, Seyed Sepehr Mohajerani, Stefan Strauf, Milos Toth, Igor Aharonovich, Zai Quan Xu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

49 Scopus citations

Abstract

Spin defects in hexagonal boron nitride, and specifically the negatively charged boron vacancy (VB-) centers, are emerging candidates for quantum sensing. However, the VB- defects suffer from low quantum efficiency and, as a result, exhibit weak photoluminescence. In this work, a scalable approach is demonstrated to dramatically enhance the VB- emission by coupling to a plasmonic gap cavity. The plasmonic cavity is composed of a flat gold surface and a silver cube, with few-layer hBN flakes positioned in between. Employing these plasmonic cavities, two orders of magnitude are extracted in photoluminescence enhancement associated with a corresponding twofold enhancement in optically detected magnetic resonance contrast. The work will be pivotal to progress in quantum sensing employing 2D materials, and in realization of nanophotonic devices with spin defects in hexagonal boron nitride.

Original languageEnglish
Article number2106046
JournalAdvanced Materials
Volume34
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 6 Jan 2022

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