Coherent coupling of mechanics to a single nuclear spin

Abstract

Nuclear spins interact weakly with their environment. In particular, they are generally insensitive to mechanical vibrations. Here, we successfully demonstrate the coherent coupling of mechanics to a single nuclear spin. This coupling is mediated by a silicon vacancy (SiV) centre in diamond, taking advantage of its large strain susceptibility and hyperfine interaction with nuclear spins. Importantly, we demonstrate that the nuclear spin retains its excellent coherence properties even in the presence of this coupling. This provides a way to leverage nuclear spins as quantum memories for mechanical systems in the quantum regime.

References in corpus (4)

• Silicon-Vacancy Spin Qubit in Diamond: A Quantum Memory Exceeding 10 ms with Single-Shot State Readout
• State Transfer Between a Mechanical Oscillator and Microwave Fields in the Quantum Regime
• Phononic band structure engineering for high-Q gigahertz surface acoustic wave resonators on lithium niobate
• Initialization and Readout of Nuclear Spins via negatively charged Silicon-Vacancy Center in Diamond