Hybrid continuous dynamical decoupling: a photon-phonon doubly dressed spin

We study the parametric interaction between a single Nitrogen-Vacancy electronic spin and a diamond mechanical resonator in which the spin is embedded. Coupling between spin and oscillator is achieved by crystal strain, which is generated upon actuation of the oscillator and which parametrically modulates the spins' energy splitting. Under coherent microwave driving of the spin, this parametric drive leads to a locking of the spin Rabi frequency to the oscillator mode in the megahertz range. Both the Rabi oscillation decay time and the inhomogeneous spin dephasing time increase by two orders of magnitude under this spin-locking condition. We present routes to prolong the dephasing times even further, potentially to the relaxation time limit. The remarkable coherence protection that our hybrid spin-oscillator system offers is reminiscent of recently proposed concatenated continuous dynamical decoupling schemes and results from our robust, drift-free strain-coupling mechanism and the narrow linewidth of the high-quality diamond mechanical oscillator employed. Our findings suggest feasible applications in quantum information processing and sensing.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Resolved sidebands in a strain-coupled hybrid spin-oscillator system

We report on single electronic spins coupled to the motion of mechanical resonators by a novel mechanism based on crystal strain. Our device consists of single-crystalline diamond cantilevers with embedded Nitrogen-Vacancy center spins. Using optically detected electron spin resonance, we determine the unknown spin-strain coupling constants and demonstrate that our system resides well within the resolved sideband regime. We realize coupling strengths exceeding ten MHz under mechanical driving and show that our system has the potential to reach strong coupling. Our novel hybrid system forms a resource for future experiments on spin-based cantilever cooling and coherent spin-oscillator coupling.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures and supplementary information. Comments welcome. Further information under http://www.quantum-sensing.physik.unibas.ch

Formes de Whitney et primitives relatives de formes diff\'erentielles sous-analytiques

Let $X$ be a real-analytic manifold and $g\colon X\to{\mathbf R}^n$ a proper triangulable subanalytic map. Given a subanalytic $r$-form $\omega$ on $X$ whose pull-back to every non singular fiber of $g$ is exact, we show tha $\omega$ has a relative primitive: there is a subanalytic $(r-1)$-form $\Omega$ such that $dg\Lambda (\omega-d\Omega)=0$. The proof uses a subanalytic triangulation to translate the problem in terms of "relative Whitney forms" associated to prisms. Using the combinatorics of Whitney forms, we show that the result ultimately follows from the subanaliticity of solutions of a special linear partial differential equation. The work was inspired by a question of Fran\c{c}ois Treves

Non-reciprocal coherent dynamics of a single spin under closed-contour interaction

Three-level quantum systems have formed a cornerstone of quantum optics since the discovery of coherent population trapping (CPT) and electromagnetically induced transparency. Key to these phenomena is quantum interference, which arises if two of the three available transitions are coherently driven at well-controlled amplitudes and phases. The additional coherent driving of the third available transition would form a closed-contour interaction (CCI) from which fundamentally new phenomena would emerge, including phase-controlled CPT and one atom interferometry. However, due to the difficulty in experimentally realising a fully coherent CCI, such aspects of three-level systems remain unexplored as of now. Here, we exploit recently developed methods for coherent driving of single Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) electronic spins to implement highly coherent CCI driving. Our experiments reveal phase-controlled, single spin quantum interference fringes, reminiscent of electron dynamics on a triangular lattice, with the driving field phases playing the role of a synthetic magnetic flux. We find that for suitable values of this phase, CCI driving leads to efficient coherence protection of the NV spin, yielding a nearly two orders of magnitude improvement of the coherence time, even for moderate drive strengths <~1MHz. Our results establish CCI driving as a novel paradigm in coherent control of few-level systems that offers attractive perspectives for applications in quantum sensing or quantum information processing.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures. Including supplementary material. Comments are welcome. For further information visit https://quantum-sensing.physik.unibas.ch/news.htm

Emergence of magnetic structure in supersonic isothermal magnetohydrodynamic turbulence

The inverse transfer of magnetic helicity is a fundamental process which may explain large scale magnetic structure formation and sustainement. Until very recently, direct numerical simulations (DNS) of the inverse transfer in magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) turbulence have been done in incompressible MHD or at low Mach numbers only. We review first results obtained through DNS of the isothermal MHD equations at Mach numbers ranging from subsonic to about 10. The spectral exponent of the magnetic helicity spectrum becomes flatter with increasing compressibility. When considering the Alfv\'en velocity in place of the magnetic field however, results found in incompressible MHD, including a dynamic balance between shear and twist, can be extended to supersonic MHD. In the global picture of an inverse transfer of magnetic helicity, three phenomena are at work: a local direct transfer mediated by the large scale velocity field, a local inverse transfer mediated by the intermediate scale velocity field and a nonlocal inverse transfer mediated by the small scale velocity field. The compressive part of the velocity field is geometrically favored in the local direct transfer and contributes to the nonlocal inverse transfer, but plays no role in the local inverse transfer.Comment: Chapter in Helicities in Geophysics, Astrophysics and Beyond (AGU Books, Wiley, 2023 or 2024

Comparative Analysis of Brass Wind Instruments With an Artificial Mouth: First Results

International audienceWe have developed in the past “artificial mouths” to study the behaviour of brass wind instruments (trumpet, trombone) in the playing situation, but without a musician. After using such devices to better understand the physical phenomena involved in brass instruments, we have built and used a new artificial mouth with the objective to test and set up instruments; the artificial mouth is considered here as a “test bench”. In this article, we describe the typical measurements that we have carried out on trumpets, in order to compare them (measurements of oscillation threshold, evolution of the playing frequency according to the dynamic level). As a first result, the artificial mouth allows one to show noticeable differences between instruments. We propose next some research paths which could be explored in order to better control the quality of instruments and, in the future, to introduce the use of an artificial mouth in the design process of brass instruments