Title :

Controlling spin relaxation with a cavity

Author(s) :

Bienfait, A. [Auteur]
Quantronics Group [QUANTRONICS]
Pla, J. J. [Auteur]
London Centre for Nanotechnology
Kubo, Y. [Auteur]
Quantronics Group [QUANTRONICS]
Zhou, Xin [Auteur]
Quantronics Group [QUANTRONICS]
Institut d’Électronique, de Microélectronique et de Nanotechnologie - UMR 8520 [IEMN]
Stern, M. [Auteur]
Quantronics Group [QUANTRONICS]
Bar-Ilan University [Israël]
Lo, C. C. [Auteur]
London Centre for Nanotechnology
Weis, D. [Auteur]
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory [Berkeley] [LBNL]
Schenkel, T. [Auteur]
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory [Berkeley] [LBNL]
Vion, Denis [Auteur]
Quantronics Group [QUANTRONICS]
Esteve, Daniel [Auteur]
Quantronics Group [QUANTRONICS]
Morton, J. J. L. [Auteur]
London Centre for Nanotechnology
Bertet, Patrice [Auteur]
Quantronics Group [QUANTRONICS]

Journal title :

Nature

Pages :

74 - 77

Publisher :

Nature Publishing Group

Publication date :

2016

ISSN :

0028-0836

English keyword(s) :

Quantum mechanics
Quantum information
Quantum optics

HAL domain(s) :

Physique [physics]

English abstract : [en]

Spontaneous emission of radiation is one of the fundamental mechanisms by which an excited quantum system returns to equilibrium. For spins, however, spontaneous emission is generally negligible compared to other non-radiative ...
Show more >Spontaneous emission of radiation is one of the fundamental mechanisms by which an excited quantum system returns to equilibrium. For spins, however, spontaneous emission is generally negligible compared to other non-radiative relaxation processes because of the weak coupling between the magnetic dipole and the electromagnetic field. In 1946, Purcell realized that the rate of spontaneous emission can be greatly enhanced by placing the quantum system in a resonant cavity. This effect has since been used extensively to control the lifetime of atoms and semiconducting heterostructures coupled to microwave or optical cavities, and is essential for the realization of high-efficiency single-photon sources. Here we report the application of this idea to spins in solids. By coupling donor spins in silicon to a superconducting microwave cavity with a high quality factor and a small mode volume, we reach the regime in which spontaneous emission constitutes the dominant mechanism of spin relaxation. The relaxation rate is increased by three orders of magnitude as the spins are tuned to the cavity resonance, demonstrating that energy relaxation can be controlled on demand. Our results provide a general way to initialize spin systems into their ground state and therefore have applications in magnetic resonance and quantum information processing. They also demonstrate that the coupling between the magnetic dipole of a spin and the electromagnetic field can be enhanced up to the point at which quantum fluctuations have a marked effect on the spin dynamics; as such, they represent an important step towards the coherent magnetic coupling of individual spins to microwave photons.Show less >

Language :

Anglais

Peer reviewed article :

Oui

Audience :

Internationale

Popular science :

Non

European Project :

Circuit Quantum Electrodynamics with Single Electronic and Nuclear Spins
ASCENT - Advanced Solid Cycles with Efficient Novel Technologies
A Quantum RAM Using Superconducting Circuits and Donors in Silicon

Collections :

• Institut d'Électronique, de Microélectronique et de Nanotechnologie (IEMN) - UMR 8520

Source :

Harvested from HAL