Multi-wavelength spin dynamics of defects in hexagonal boron nitride

Ivan Zhigulin; Nicholas P. Sloane; Benjamin Whitefield; Konosuke Shimazaki; Jean-Philippe Tetienne; Mehran Kianinia; Igor Aharonovich

doi:10.1038/s41377-026-02398-z

Your Location：

Home >

Browse articles >

Multi-wavelength spin dynamics of defects in hexagonal boron nitride

Original Articles

- Multi-wavelength spin dynamics of defects in hexagonal boron nitride
- Light: Science & Applications Vol. 15, Issue 8, Pages: 2534-2543(2026)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW 2007, Australia
  2.ARC Centre of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW 2007, Australia
  3.Department of Physics, School of Science, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3001, Australia
  4.Department of Physics, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 02447, Republic of Korea
- Author bio：
  
  Nicholas P. Sloane (Nicholas.sloane@uts.edu.au)
  Mehran Kianinia (Mehran.Kianinia@uts.edu.au)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1038/s41377-026-02398-z
  CLC：
- Received：04 February 2026，
  
  Revised：2026-06-03，
  
  Accepted：16 June 2026，
  
  Online First：25 June 2026，
  
  Published：31 August 2026
- Accepted：
Scan QR Code
Zhigulin, I. et al. Multi-wavelength spin dynamics of defects in hexagonal boron nitride. Light: Science & Applications, 15, 2534-2543 (2026).
DOI：

Zhigulin, I. et al. Multi-wavelength spin dynamics of defects in hexagonal boron nitride. Light: Science & Applications, 15, 2534-2543 (2026). DOI： 10.1038/s41377-026-02398-z.

摘要

Abstract

Optically addressable solid-state spin defects are essential platforms for quantum sensing and information processing. Recently

single spin defects with combined S = 1 and S = ½ spin transitions were discovered in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). In this work we unveil their excitation dynamics. In particular

we study the effects of the excitation wavelength on the spin-dependent fluorescence and the spin dynamics of these peculiar quantum spin defects. We find that changing the excitation wavelength leads to a threefold enhancement in both the optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) contrast and the corresponding magnetic field sensitivity. In addition

we find that the excitation wavelength has a strong impact on the photodynamics of spin complex emitters. Our work presents valuable insights to the mechanistic understanding of spin complex emitters in hBN and highlights the importance of excitation wavelength for optimising their performance in quantum sensing and quantum technologies.

关键词

Keywords

references

Aharonovich, I., Englund, D. & Toth, M. Solid-state single-photon emitters. Nat. Photonics 10 , 631–641 (2016)..

Awschalom, D. D. et al. Quantum technologies with optically interfaced solid-state spins. Nat. Photonics 12 , 516–527 (2018)..

Wolfowicz, G. et al. Quantum guidelines for solid-state spin defects. Nat. Rev. Mater. 6 , 906–925 (2021)..

Schirhagl, R. et al. Nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond: nanoscale sensors for physics and biology. Annu. Rev. Phys. Chem. 65 , 83–105 (2014)..

Stern, H. L. et al. Room-temperature optically detected magnetic resonance of single defects in hexagonal boron nitride. Nat. Commun. 13 , 618 (2022)..

Scholten, S. C. et al. Multi-species optically addressable spin defects in a van der Waals material. Nat. Commun. 15 , 6727 (2024)..

Stern, H. L. et al. A quantum coherent spin in hexagonal boron nitride at ambient conditions. Nat. Mater. 23 , 1379–1385 (2024)..

Singh, P. et al. Violet to near-infrared optical addressing of spin pairs in hexagonal boron nitride. Adv. Mater. 37 , 2414846 (2025)..

Gilardoni, C. M. et al. A single spin in hexagonal boron nitride for vectorial quantum magnetometry. Nat. Commun. 16 , 4947 (2025)..

Gao, X. Y. et al. Single nuclear spin detection and control in a van der Waals material. Nature 643 , 943–949 (2025)..

Robertson, I. O. et al. A charge transfer mechanism for optically addressable solid-state spin pairs. Nat. Phys. 21 , 1981–1987 (2025)..

Whitefield, B. et al. Narrowband quantum emitters in hexagonal boron nitride with optically addressable spins. Nat. Mater. 25 , 412–419 (2026)..

Whitefield, B. et al. Photodynamics andtemperature dependence of single spin defects in hexagonal boron nitride. ACS Nano 20 , 6200–6207 (2026)..

Durand, A. et al. Optically active spin defects in few-layer thick hexagonal boron nitride. Phys. Rev. Lett. 131 , 116902 (2023)..

Huang, M. Q. et al. Wide field imaging of van der Waals ferromagnet Fe 3 GeTe 2 by spin defects in hexagonal boron nitride. Nat. Commun. 13 , 5369 (2022)..

Healey, A. J. et al. Quantum microscopy with van der Waals heterostructures. Nat. Phys. 19 , 87–91 (2023)..

Ro bertson, I. O. et al. Detection of paramagnetic spins with an ultrathin van der Waals quantum sensor. ACS Nano 17 , 13408–13417 (2023)..

Gao, X. Y. et al. Nanotube spin defects for omnidirectional magnetic field sensing. Nat. Commun. 15 , 7697 (2024)..

Caldwell, J. D. et al. Photonics with hexagonal boron nitride. Nat. Rev. Mater. 4 , 552–567 (2019)..

Moon, S. et al. Hexagonal boron nitride for next-generation photonics and electronics. Adv. Mater. 35 , 2204161 (2023)..

Loh, L. et al. Towards quantum light-emitting devices based on van der Waals materials. Nature Reviews. Electr. Eng. 1 , 815–829 (2024)..

Gottscholl, A. et al. Initialization and read-out of intrinsic spin defects in a van der Waals crystal at room temperature. Nat. Mater. 19 , 540–545 (2020)..

Gottscholl, A. et al. Room temperature coherent control of spin defects in hexagonal boron nitride. Sci. Adv. 7 , eabf3630 (2021)..

Mu, Z. et al. Excited-state optically detected magnetic resonance of spin defects in hexagonal boron nitride. Phys. Rev. Lett. 128 , 216402 (2022)..

Qian, C. J. et al. Unveiling the zero-phonon line of the boron vacancy center by cavity-enhanced emission. Nano Lett. 22 , 5137–5142 (2022)..

Gong, R. T. et al. Coherent dynamics of strongly interacting electronic spin defects in hexagonal boron nitride. Nat. Commun. 14 , 3299 (2023)..

Gottscholl, A. et al. Spin defects in hBN as promising temperature, pressure and magnetic field quantum sensors. Nat. Commun. 12 , 4480 (2021)..

Lyu, X. D. et al. Strain quantum sensing with spin defects in hexagonal boron nitride. Nano Lett. 22 , 6553–6559 (2022)..

Yang, T. S. et al. Spin defects in hexagonal boron nitride for strain sensing on nanopillar arrays. Nanoscale 14 , 5239–5244 (2022)..

Whitefield, B. et al. Magnetic field sensitivity optimization of negatively charged boron vacancy defects in hBN. Adv. Quantum Technol. 8 , 2300118 (2025)..

Luo, J. L. et al. Room temperature optically detected magnetic resonance of single spins in GaN. Nat. Mater. 23 , 512–518 (2024)..

Vaidya, S. et al. Coherent spins in van der Waals semiconductor GeS 2 at ambient conditions. Nano Lett. 25 , 14356–14362 (2025)..

Liu, W. et al. Experimental observation of spin defects in the van der Waals material GeS 2 . Nano Lett. 25 , 16330–16339 (2025)..

Auburger, P. & Gali, A. Towards ab initio identification of paramagnetic substitutional carbon defects in hexagonal boron nitride acting as quantum bits. Phys. Rev. B 104 , 075410 (2021)..

Li, S., Pershin, A. & Gali, A. Quantum emission from coupled spin pairs in hexagonal boron nitride. Nat. Commun. 16 , 5842 (2025)..

Tawfik, S. A. et al. First-principles investigation of quantum emission from hBN defects. Nanoscale 9 , 13575–13582 (2017)..

Jara, C. et al. First-principles Identification of single photon emitters based on carbon clusters in hexagonal boron nitride. J. Phys. Chem. A 125 , 1325–1335 (2021)..

Mendelson, N. et al. Identifying carbon as the source of visible single-photon emission from hexagonal boron nitride. Nat. Mater. 20 , 321–328 (2021)..

Li, S. & Gali, A. Identification of an oxygen defect in hexagonal boron nitride. J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 13 , 9544–9551 (2022)..

Schell, A. W., Svedendahl, M. & Quidant, R. Quantum emitters in hexagonal boron nitride have spectrally tunable quantum efficiency. Adv. Mater. 30 , 1704237 (2018)..

Jungwirth, N. R. & Fuchs, G. D. Optical absorption and emission mechanisms of single defects in hexagonal boron nitride. Phys. Rev. Lett. 119 , 057401 (2017)..

Dréau, A. et al. Avoiding power broadening in optically detected magnetic resonance of single NV defects for enhanced dc magnetic field sensitivity. Phys. Rev. B 84 , 195204 (2011)..

Patel, R. N. et al. Room temperature dynamics of an optically addressable single spin in hexagonal boron nitride. Nano Lett. 24 , 7623–7628 (2024)..

Kianinia, M. et al. All-optical control and super-resolution imaging of quantum emitters in layered materials. Nat. Commun. 9 , 874 (2018)..

Stern, H. L. et al. Spectrally resolved photodynamics of individual emitters in large-area monolayers of hexagonal boron nitride. ACS Nano 13 , 4538–4547 (2019)..

Boll, M. K. et al. Photophysics of quantum emitters in hexagonal boron-nitride nano-flakes. Opt. Express 28 , 7475–7487 (2020)..

Comtet, J. et al. Wide-field spectral super-resolution mapping of optically active defects in hexagonal boron nitride. Nano Lett. 19 , 2516–2523 (2019)..

Preuss, J. A. et al. Resonant and phonon-assisted ultrafast coherent control of a single hBN color center. Optica 9 , 522–531 (2022)..

Gao, X. Y. et al. High-contrast plasmonic-enhanced shallow spin defects in hexagonal boron nitride for quantum sensing. Nano Lett. 21 , 7708–7714 (2021)..

Todenhagen, L. M. & Brandt, M. S. Optical and electrical readout of diamond NV centers in dependence of the excitation wavelength. Appl. Phys. Lett. 126 , 194003 (2025)..

Hell, S. W. & Kroug, M. Ground-state-depletion fluorscence microscopy: a concept for breaking the diffraction resolution limit. Appl. Phys. B 60 , 495–497 (1995)..

Views

Downloads

CSCD

Alert me when the article has been cited

Submit

Tools

Publicity Resources

Interferometric scattering for optical tomoslicing of transparent solids

Ultrahigh-Q integrated flame-hydrolysis-deposited germano-silicate resonators on silicon

Generating vectorial optical fields via surface-wave-excited complex-amplitude metasurfaces

Interferometric image scanning microscopy enables label-free super-resolution imaging of live cells

Thouless quantum walks in topological flat bands

Related Author

No data

Related Institution

No data

⁰