Coupling a single spin to the motion of a carbon nanotube
Journal article, 2025
The ability to couple a solitary spin to high-frequency motion is a crucial advancement for a range of applications, including quantum sensing, intermediate and long-distance spin-spin coupling, and quantum information processing. Although proposed theoretically over a decade ago, experimental demonstrations have remained elusive. Here we report the observation of spin-mechanical coupling in a carbon nanotube device. We demonstrate this coupling in two configurations: off-resonant, with spin and mechanics excited by separate tones, and resonant, driven by a single tone. The coupling manifests as a shift and broadening of the electric dipole spin resonance (EDSR), respectively. Our theoretical model, which accounts for the tensor character of the coupling and mechanical non-linearity, reproduces the data with very good agreement. Our results demonstrate a previously unobserved spin-mechanical coupling, offering versatile tools for exploring macroscopic quantum phenomena, quantum thermodynamics, and quantum simulation.
Author
Federico Fedele
University of Oxford
Federico Cerisola
University of Exeter
University of Oxford
Léa Bresque
Grenoble Alpes University
Florian Vigneau
University of Oxford
Juliette Monsel
Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Applied Quantum Physics
Jorge Tabanera-Bravo
Complutense University
Kushagra Aggarwal
University of Oxford
Jonathan Dexter
University of Oxford
Sofia Sevitz
University of Potsdam
Joe Dunlop
University of Exeter
Alexia Auffèves
Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT)
National University of Singapore (NUS)
Juan M.R. Parrondo
Complutense University
András Pályi
Budapest University of Technology and Economics
Janet Anders
University of Exeter
University of Potsdam
Natalia Ares
University of Oxford
Nature Communications
2041-1723 (ISSN) 20411723 (eISSN)
Vol. 16 1 11454Värmeströmsfluktuationer och dens inverkan på lokala temperaturer och potentialer
Swedish Research Council (VR) (2018-05061), 2019-01-01 -- 2022-12-31.
Subject Categories (SSIF 2025)
Theoretical Chemistry
Condensed Matter Physics
Other Physics Topics
DOI
10.1038/s41467-025-66331-5
PubMed
41390666
Related datasets
Supplementary data [dataset]
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17434941