Manipulation of electronic defects in hexagonal boron nitride*

Hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) provides a regular nuclear spin lattice, which makes it a promising platform for studying models of spin dynamics. This material also hosts numerous electronic defects that have been well-characterized in bulk electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. Nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in diamond are very sensitive local magnetic field probes that can polarize and control single electronic spins and nanoscale volumes of nuclear spins. In this experiment we use an NV center to manipulate electronic defects in and near hBN, and we are working towards utilizing these defects for better initialization and control of local nuclear spins.