The ability to create and control connected quantum states established the advent of quantum information technologies (Q-IT). Manipulation of the electron spin associated with colour centres in solid state crystals is one of the pillar technologies that could eventually push Q-IT beyond cryogenic environments. Exploitation of the full potential of these atomic qubit systems is, however, hampered by two key challenges: the lack of atomistic insights into their properties, and the ability to place them with the required fidelity and atomic spatial precision.

The project aims to bring together recent breakthrough developments in synthetic control of two-dimensional (2D) materials and ultrafast, single-atom resolution probes to address these challenges. Specifically, a platform for electro-optically addressable spin qubits (Atomic Quantum Emitters, AQEs) in 2D materials based on atomic dopants in transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) monolayers and molecular spin systems in 2D covalent organic frameworks (2D-COFs) will be developed. These systems will provide an ideal platform to generate AQEs by chemical design, to control the mesoscopic environment averting variability between emitters, to achieve atomically precise spatial placement, to identify and eliminate decoherence channels, and to develop high-fidelity scalable pumping schemes. The proposed construction of a spin-polarized ultrafast THz scanning probe microscope with optical detection capabilities will enable the direct correlation of structural, electronic, magnetic, and optical properties of individual AQEs with simultaneous atomic spatial resolution and picosecond time resolution. This will open new frontiers in the spatio-temporal characterization and control of solid-state AQE systems.

The atomically precise engineering of 2D quantum materials and unprecedented microscopic insights into AQEs bear transformative potential for the field of quantum sensing, communication and information processing.