Hyperfine structure of transition metal defects in SiC*

Transition metal (TM) defects in silicon carbide (SiC) are a promising platform in quantum technology, especially because some TM defects emit in one of the telecom bands. We develop a theory for the interaction of an active electron in the D shell of a TM defect in SiC with the TM nuclear spin and derive the effective hyperfine tensor within the Kramers doublets formed by the spin-orbit coupling. Based on our theory we discuss the possibility to exchange the nuclear and electron states with potential applications for nuclear spin manipulation and long-lived nuclear-spin based-quantum memories.