Cooling a magnetic resonance force microscope via the dynamical back-action of nuclear spins

TL;DR

This paper investigates how nuclear spins influence the motion of a cantilever in a magnetic resonance force microscope, demonstrating that spin back-action can cool or heat the cantilever and cause damping effects.

Contribution

It provides a theoretical analysis of nuclear spin back-action effects on cantilever dynamics, including damping, frequency shifts, and cooling mechanisms at the Rabi frequency.

Findings

Nuclear spins contribute to cantilever damping and frequency shifts.

Energy exchange with spins can cool or heat the cantilever.

Spin noise significantly damps cantilever motion.

Abstract

We analyze the back-action influence of nuclear spins on the motion of the cantilever of a magnetic force resonance microscope. We calculate the contribution of nuclear spins to the damping and frequency shift of the cantilever. We show that, at the Rabi frequency, the energy exchange between the cantilever and the spin system cools or heats the cantilever depending on the sign of the high-frequency detuning. We also show that the spin noise leads to a significant damping of the cantilever motion.