Nanoscale engineering and dynamical stabilization of mesoscopic spin textures

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how thermalization can be harnessed to engineer and stabilize complex mesoscopic spin textures in diamond, enabling long-lived, stable quantum states without local control, with potential applications in quantum technologies.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method to use thermalization for creating and stabilizing structured quantum spin textures at the nanoscale in a mesoscopic ensemble.

Findings

Successfully generated and stabilized shell-like spin textures in diamond.

Achieved long-term stability of spin textures over minutes, far exceeding intrinsic interaction times.

Enabled readout of spin textures without local control or probing.

Abstract

Thermalization phenomena, while ubiquitous in quantum systems, have traditionally been viewed as obstacles to be mitigated. In this study, we demonstrate the ability, instead, to harness thermalization to dynamically engineer and stabilize structured quantum states in a mesoscopically large ensemble of spins. Specifically, we showcase the capacity to generate, control, stabilize, and read out 'shell-like' spin texture with interacting $ {}^{ 13}\mathrm{C}$ nuclear spins in diamond, wherein spins are polarized oppositely on either side of a critical radius. The texture spans several nanometers and encompasses many hundred spins. We capitalize on the thermalization process to impose a quasi-equilibrium upon the generated texture; as a result, it is highly stable, immune to spin diffusion, and endures over multiple-minute long periods -- over a million times longer than the intrinsic interaction scale of the spins. Additionally, the texture is created and interrogated without locally controlling or probing the nuclear spins. These features are accomplished using an electron spin as a nanoscale injector of spin polarization, and employing it as a source of spatially varying dissipation, allowing for serial readout of the emergent spin texture. Long-time stabilization is achieved via prethermalization to a Floquet-induced Hamiltonian under the electronic gradient field. Our work presents a new approach to robust nanoscale spin state engineering and paves the way for new applications in quantum simulation, quantum information science, and nanoscale imaging.