Nuclear Magnetic Resonance with a Levitating Micro-Particle

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates NMR on a levitating micro-diamond, achieving record coherence times and opening new avenues for quantum sensing and manipulation of macroscopic objects.

Contribution

It introduces a method to perform NMR on a levitated micro-particle with long coherence times, surpassing previous records and enabling new quantum applications.

Findings

Achieved NMR in a levitating micro-diamond.

Recorded spin coherence times up to hundreds of microseconds.

Surpassed previous coherence time records by three orders of magnitude.

Abstract

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spans diverse fields from biology to quantum science. Employing NMR on a floating object could unveil novel possibilities beyond conventional operational paradigms. Here, we observe Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) within a levitating micro-diamond using the nuclear spins of nitrogen-14 atoms. By tightly confining the angular degrees of freedom of the diamond in a Paul trap, we achieve efficient hyperfine interaction between optically polarized electronic spins of nitrogen-vacancy centers and the $^{14}$N nuclear spin, enabling nuclear spin polarization and quantum state read-out revealing coherence times up to hundreds of microseconds. This represents the longest recorded spin coherence time in a levitated system, surpassing previous records by three orders of magnitude. Our results offer promise for various applications, including cooling macroscopic particles to their motional ground state and exploring geometric phases for gyroscopy.