Coupling a Surface Acoustic Wave to an Electron Spin in Diamond via a Dark State
At a Glance
Section titled āAt a Glanceā| Metadata | Details |
|---|---|
| Publication Date | 2016-12-20 |
| Journal | Physical Review X |
| Authors | D. Andrew Golter, Thein Oo, Mayra Amezcua, Ignas Lekavicius, Kevin A. Stewart |
| Institutions | University of Oregon, Oregon State University |
| Citations | 140 |
Abstract
Section titled āAbstractāThe emerging field of quantum acoustics explores interactions between\nacoustic waves and artificial atoms and their applications in quantum\ninformation processing. In this experimental study, we demonstrate the coupling\nbetween a surface acoustic wave (SAW) and an electron spin in diamond by taking\nadvantage of the strong strain coupling of the excited states of a nitrogen\nvacancy center, while avoiding the short lifetime of these states. The SAW-spin\ncoupling takes place through a lamda-type three-level system where two ground\nspin states couple to a common excited state through a phonon-assisted as well\nas a direct dipole optical transition. Both coherent population trapping and\noptically-driven spin transitions have been realized. The coherent population\ntrapping demonstrates the coupling between a SAW and an electron spin coherence\nthrough a dark state. The optically-driven spin transitions, which resemble the\nsideband transitions in a trapped ion system, can enable the quantum control of\nboth spin and mechanical degrees of freedom and potentially a trapped-ion-like\nsolid state system for applications in quantum computing. These results\nestablish an experimental platform for spin-based quantum acoustic, bridging\nthe gap between spintronics and quantum acoustics.\n