Witnessing non-stationary and non-Markovian environments with a quantum sensor

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how quantum sensors, specifically NV centers in diamond, can operationally identify and distinguish between stationary, non-stationary, Markovian, and non-Markovian environmental noise characteristics without needing full microscopic bath reconstruction.

Contribution

The authors develop a physical noise model and analytical predictions for Ramsey decay that capture key environmental dynamical features, validated through controlled experiments.

Findings

Quantum sensors can distinguish environmental noise types.

Validated noise model matches experimental Ramsey decay.

Operational signatures of non-stationarity and non-Markovianity identified.

Abstract

Quantum sensors offer exceptional sensitivity to nanoscale magnetic fluctuations, where non-stationary effects -- such as spin diffusion -- and non-Markovian dynamics arising from coupling to few environmental degrees of freedom play critical roles. Because fully reconstructing the microscopic structure of realistic spin baths is often infeasible, a practical challenge is to identify the dynamical features that are actually encoded in the sensor's decoherence signal. Here, we demonstrate how quantum sensors can operationally characterize the statistical nature of environmental noise, distinguishing between stationary and non-stationary behaviors, as well as Markovian and non-Markovian dynamics. Using nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond as a platform, we develop a physical noise model that captures the essential dynamical features of realistic environments relevant to sensor observables -- independently of the microscopic bath details -- and provides analytical predictions for Ramsey decay across different regimes. These predictions are experimentally validated through controlled noise injection with tunable correlation properties. Our results showcase the capability of quantum sensors to isolate and identify key dynamical properties of complex environments, without requiring full microscopic bath reconstruction. This work clarifies the operational signatures of non-stationarity and non-Markovian behavior at the nanoscale and lays the foundation for strategies that mitigates decoherence while exploiting environmental dynamics for enhanced quantum sensing.