Acoustically induced coherent spin trapping

TL;DR

This paper introduces acoustically induced coherent spin trapping (CST) in hybrid spin-optomechanical systems, revealing strain-induced spin interactions that surpass ground state interactions, enabling advanced control of spin qubits for quantum devices.

Contribution

It demonstrates for the first time that strain-induced spin interactions in excited states can dominate, leading to the discovery of CST and new methods for spin control using acoustic fields.

Findings

Strain-induced spin interactions in excited states exceed those in ground states by two orders of magnitude.

Acoustic fields can coherently trap spins along a specific direction, demonstrating CST.

Potential for developing spin-acoustic quantum devices with dynamic strain control.

Abstract

Hybrid spin-optomechanical quantum systems offer high flexibility, integrability and applicability for quantum science and technology. Particularly, on-chip surface acoustic waves (SAWs) can efficiently drive spin transitions in the ground states (GSs) of atomic-scale, color centre qubits, which are forbidden in case of the more frequently used electromagnetic fields. Here, we demonstrate that strain-induced spin interactions within their optically excited state (ES) can exceed by two orders of magnitude the ones within the GS. This gives rise to novel physical phenomena, such as the acoustically induced coherent spin trapping (CST) unvealed here. The CST manifests itself as the spin preservation along one particular direction under the coherent drive of the GS and ES by the same acoustic field. Our findings provide new opportunities for the coherent control of spin qubits with dynamically generated strain fields that can lead towards the realization of future spin-acoustic quantum devices.