Post-doctoral position on “Quantum sensing with spin defects in hexagonal boron nitride»

Post-doctoral position on “Quantum sensing with spin defects in hexagonal boron nitride” at Laboratoire Charles Coulomb, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, France

Within the framework of the project BONIQs (“Towards quantum sensing with spin defects in hexagonal boron nitride”) funded by the Occitan Key Challenge on Quantum Technologies, a 18-months post-doctoral position is available in the team “Solid-state quantum technologies” at the Laboratoire Charles Coulomb located in Montpellier, France.

The long-term objective of the project BONIQS is to integrate quantum sensors into van der Waals heterostructures in order to probe, in situ, the physics occurring at the interfaces between atomically-thin, two-dimensional (2D) materials assembled in vertical stacks. Our approach consists in using optically-active spin defects hosted in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), a wide-bandgap material which is a key building block of van der Waals heterostructures. In this general context, the post-doctoral work will be focused on the study of the spin and optical properties of the recently discovered boron vacancy (VB) defect in hBN, in order to assess its performances for quantum sensing applications. The first objective of the post-doctoral work is to characterize the spin coherence properties of VB defect in hBN, and to identify experimental strategies to optimize them, e.g. through nuclear spin polarization protocols and/or dynamical decoupling methods based on spin echo techniques.  The second objective is to create this novel quantum system down to the single defect level through ion implantation techniques in thin hBN layers.

To apply, please send a motivation letter, curriculum vitae and contact information from at least two references to Vincent Jacques (vincent.jacques@umontpellier.fr) or Guillaume Cassabois (guillaume.cassabois@umontpellier.fr).