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Quantum microscopy with van der Waals heterostructures

Nature Physics volume 19, pages 87–91 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Solid-state spin sensors have the capacity to act as quantum microscopes for probing material properties and physical processes. However, so far, these tools have relied on quantum defects hosted in rigid, three-dimensional (3D) crystals such as diamond, limiting their ability to closely interface with the sample. Here we demonstrate a versatile quantum microscope using point defects embedded within a thin layer of the van der Waals material hexagonal boron nitride. To showcase the multi-modal capabilities of this platform, we assemble two different heterostructures of a van der Waals material in combination with a quantum-active boron nitride flake. We demonstrate time-resolved, simultaneous temperature and magnetic imaging near the Curie temperature of a van der Waals ferromagnet, as well as map out charge currents and Joule heating in an operating graphene device. The straightforward integration of the hexagonal boron nitride quantum sensor with other van der Waals materials will yield substantial practical benefits for the design and measurement of 2D devices.

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Fig. 1: Quantum microscopy with spin defects in hBN.
Fig. 2: Magnetic imaging of a CrTe2 ferromagnet.
Fig. 3: Time-resolved simultaneous temperature and magnetic imaging.
Fig. 4: Imaging Joule heating and current flow in a graphene device.

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Data availability

Data are available from Zenodo at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7117809. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Australian Research Council (ARC) through grants CE170100012, DP190101506, FT200100073, DP220100178 and CE200100010, the Office of Naval Research Global (N62909-22-1-2028) and the Asian Office of Aerospace Research & Development (FA2386-20-1-4014). We acknowledge support from the Australian Nanofabrication Facilities at the UTS OptoFab node. A.J.H. and I.O.R. are supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship. S.C.S. gratefully acknowledges the support of an Ernst and Grace Matthaei scholarship. Y.F.G. acknowledges support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grants 92065201 and 11874264).

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: A. J. Healey, S. C. Scholten, T. Yang.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    A. J. Healey, S. C. Scholten, G. J. Abrahams & I. O. Robertson

  2. Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology, School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    A. J. Healey & S. C. Scholten

  3. School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, New South Wales, Australia

    T. Yang, J. A. Scott, M. Kianinia & I. Aharonovich

  4. ARC Centre of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, New South Wales, Australia

    T. Yang, J. A. Scott, M. Kianinia & I. Aharonovich

  5. School of Science, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    G. J. Abrahams, I. O. Robertson & J.-P. Tetienne

  6. School of Physical Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, China

    X. F. Hou & Y. F. Guo

  7. ShanghaiTech Laboratory for Topological Physics, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, China

    Y. F. Guo

  8. School of Engineering, College of Engineering & Computer Science, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

    S. Rahman & Y. Lu

  9. Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

    Y. Lu

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Contributions

I.A. and J.-P.T. conceived the experiment. A.J.H. and S.C.S. performed the quantum microscopy measurements and analysed the data, assisted by G.J.A. and I.O.R. T.Y. fabricated and characterized the heterostructures, assisted by S.R., Y.L. and M.K. J.A.S. performed the ion irradiation. X.F.H. and Y.F.G. synthesized the CrTe2 crystals, with further characterization by S.R. and Y.L. A.J.H., S.C.S., T.Y., I.A. and J.-P.T. wrote the paper, with input from all the authors. All the authors discussed the results.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to I. Aharonovich or J.-P. Tetienne.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–12 and Discussion (15 sections).

Source Data Fig. 1

Numerical data for generating the image in Fig. 1e and the curves in Fig. 1f,g.

Source Data Fig. 2

Numerical data for generating the images in Fig. 2d,e.

Source Data Fig. 3

Numerical data for generating the images in Fig. 3d–i.

Source Data Fig. 4

Numerical data for generating the images in Fig. 1b–e, and the linecuts in Fig. 1f,g.

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Healey, A.J., Scholten, S.C., Yang, T. et al. Quantum microscopy with van der Waals heterostructures. Nat. Phys. 19, 87–91 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-022-01815-5

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