Color centers have been realized in various bulk materials such as diamond and have demonstrated remarkable performance in quantum technologies. However, their applications remain constrained by challenges in photon extraction, precise spatial positioning, and integration into scalable devices. Two-dimensional (2D) materials offer a promising route to overcome these limitations, providing an atomically thin platform well suited for defect engineering. In this work, based on first-principles calculations, we identify multiple types of defects in recently synthesized wide band gap 2D GaN, namely, ${\mathrm{V}}_{\mathrm{Ga}}, {\mathrm{V}}_{\mathrm{Ga}}{\mathrm{C}}_{\mathrm{N}}$, and ${\mathrm{V}}_{\mathrm{Ga}}{\mathrm{O}}_{\mathrm{N}}$, as promising candidates for qubit applications. These defects exhibit well-defined electronic transition pathways within the band gap, with zero-phonon lines located in the visible to near-infrared fluorescence range (697–1000 nm), enabling precise optical excitation. The large transition dipole moment and short radiative lifetime (1.787–14.485 ns) in these defects indicate high photoluminescence quantum yields for single-photon sources. In particular, ${\mathrm{V}}_{\mathrm{Ga}}$ possesses a spin-triplet ground state analogous to the $\mathrm{N}{\mathrm{V}}^{-}$ center in diamond with a zero-field splitting of 2.43 GHz, allowing control via $S$-band microwave radiation. Moreover, the high Debye-Waller factors of ${\mathrm{V}}_{\mathrm{Ga}}$ (0.349) and ${\mathrm{V}}_{\mathrm{Ga}}{\mathrm{O}}_{\mathrm{N}}$ (0.409) indicate strong optical coherence, making them highly suitable for qubit applications. The hyperfine parameters of ${\mathrm{V}}_{\mathrm{Ga}}, {\mathrm{V}}_{\mathrm{Ga}}{\mathrm{C}}_{\mathrm{N}}$, and ${\mathrm{V}}_{\mathrm{Ga}}{\mathrm{O}}_{\mathrm{N}}$ induced by nuclear spins enable the possibility of controlling nuclear spin qubits and offer valuable references for applications such as optically detected magnetic resonance.

Close

PrevNext

View figure in article

• Color centers
• Point defects
• 2-dimensional systems
• Qubits
• First-principles calculations