Abstract
The emerging field of quantum acoustics explores interactions between acoustic waves and artificial atoms and their applications in quantum information processing. In this experimental study, we demonstrate the coupling between a surface acoustic wave (SAW) and an electron spin in diamond by taking advantage of the strong strain coupling of the excited states of a nitrogen vacancy center, while avoiding the short lifetime of these states. The SAW-spin coupling takes place through a lamda-type three-level system where two ground spin states couple to a common excited state through a phonon-assisted as well as a direct dipole optical transition. Both coherent population trapping and optically-driven spin transitions have been realized. The coherent population trapping demonstrates the coupling between a SAW and an electron spin coherence through a dark state. The optically-driven spin transitions, which resemble the sideband transitions in a trapped ion system, can enable the quantum control of both spin and mechanical degrees of freedom and potentially a trapped-ion-like solid state system for applications in quantum computing. These results establish an experimental platform for spin-based quantum acoustic, bridging the gap between spintronics and quantum acoustics.
Highlights
Recent experimental success in coupling a surface acoustic wave (SAW) to a superconducting qubit has led to the emergence of quantum acoustics, the acoustic analog of quantum optics [1]
Acoustic waves propagate at a speed that is 5 orders of magnitude slower than the speed of light, and they couple to artificial atoms through mechanical as well as electromagnetic processes, thereby enabling a new paradigm for on-chip quantum operation and communication
This paper reports experimental advances that overcome this dilemma by coupling a SAW to a nitrogen vacancy (NV) electron spin qubit through an optically prepared dark state
Summary
Recent experimental success in coupling a surface acoustic wave (SAW) to a superconducting qubit has led to the emergence of quantum acoustics, the acoustic analog of quantum optics [1]. The excited-state mediated spinphonon coupling can take place in a Λ-type three-level system, which features a direct dipole optical transition as well as a phonon-assisted optical transition enabled by the excited-state strain coupling In this system, the two spin states can couple to the SAW via a dark state, for which the electron is trapped in a special coherent superposition of the two spin states and is decoupled from the excited state. The realization of the phonon-assisted CPT, and especially the optically driven sideband spin transitions for a NV center, establishes an experimental platform for spinbased quantum acoustics. These transitions are analogous to the sideband transitions in the well-known trapped-ion system. We present the experimental demonstration of phonon-assisted CPT and optically driven sideband spin transitions
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