Nuclear Spin Polarization and Control in hexagonal boron nitride*

Spin defects in van der Waals materials have emerged as important resources in condensed matter physics, spintronics, and quantum sensing. So far, nuclear spins in 2D materials have not been well studied. We report optical polarization and control of nuclear spins in a van der Waals material, hexagonal Boron Nitride (hBN), at room temperature. We show optical polarization characterization by means of ODMR spectra and show Rabi oscillations of the nuclear spins at the level anticrossing. Our work opens up new avenues for the manipulation of nuclear spins in van der Waals materials for quantum information science and technology.