New two dimensional material platforms for nanoscale quantum sensing

Quantum technologies are expected to revolutionise the future with transformative advancements in the way we communicate, perform computing, design, and diagnose health conditions. The last decade has seen many proofs of principle and early-stage applications using well characterised systems and physical processes. However, the full unlocking of the transformative quantum phenomena for real world application requires platforms which are robust and easily implementable with current manufacturing processes in electronics, sensors and healthcare devices. Historically, solid-state material systems have been the protagonists of the revolution in electronics which has dominated the second half of the last century, a prominent example being the shift from vacuum tubes to silicon field effect transistors. Similarly, quantum is expected to rely, for some of its key application, on solid-state material platforms.
Two-dimensional (2D) materials offer unique structural and mechanical characteristics for acting as elements, being easily implementable in the current planar thin film technologies and offering a plethora of electrical, magnetic and optical properties. This is enabled by their common structural motif with covalent 2D crystals bonded by weak van der Waals interplanar interactions and chemical tuneability. While the interest in these spurred from the isolation of graphene years ago, it is only very recently that their potential for quantum applications has emerged and promises a rich playground for new transformative discoveries in quantum.
Localised point defects in a 2D material have some unique advantages as platforms for solid state quantum technologies: 1) they offer localized and accessible electronic/optical and spin states with the required coherence characteristics to exploit quantum processes for sensing and 2) they are hosted in a 2D systems which can be easily implemented in photonics/electronics where the qubits can be addressed, written/read, and manipulated. In addition, the atomically thin nature of these materials offers the possibility to further protect the states or use them as truly nanoscale sensors via proximity effects.
This project aims at synthesizing, demonstrating and discovering new 2D material platforms capable of effectively using optically active spin qubits in quantum sensing applications. It relies on some recent breakthroughs such as the demonstration of coherent manipulation of optically active spin states in boron nitride (hBN), the engineering of defects in transition metal dichalcogenides, and the unique electronic structure of transition metal dichalcogenides to propose new architectures for quantum sensing at the nanoscale. While other materials have been demonstrated in the past, very successful examples are diamond and Silicon Carbide, in some cases they have shown limitations. The proposed 2D systems here offer a new avenue.
The objectives can be summarised in: 1) implementation of recently discovered defects in hBN and their study by optically detected magnetic resonance and coherent manipulation of spin, 2) exploration of new defects in transition metal dichalcogenide for quantum information/sensing applications, 3) magnetic field sensing and imaging of new phases in quantum materials. Future applications of this research are in nanoscale sensors and detectors, with implications for in-vitro biomedical diagnostics, magnetic resonance imaging and photonic quantum chip processors. The generated output will contribute to the UK quantum strategy mission, by offering new solid-state materials for healthcare, ultraprecise magnetic detection and computing power. The research is well aligned with the Canadian government effort in quantum technologies by offering core hardware for secure communication networks and development of new quantum sensing platforms.