Creation of Boron Vacancies in Hexagonal Boron Nitride Exfoliated from Bulk Crystals for Quantum Sensing

Abstract

Boron vacancies (VB-) in hexagonal boron -nitride (hBN) have sparked great interest in recent years due to their optical and spin properties. Since hBN can be readily integrated into devices where it interfaces a huge variety of other 2D materials, boron vacancies may serve as a precise sensor which can be deployed at very close proximity to many important materials systems. Boron vacancy defects may be produced by a number of existing methods, the use of which may depend on the final application. Any method should reproducibly generate defects with controlled density and desired pattern. To date, however, detailed studies of such methods are missing. In this paper, we study various techniqu..