Mechanical Coupling to Nuclear Spins
Our research focusses on the interactions between mechanical strain and donor nuclei.
[O’Neill2021]
Mechanical strain is a fundamental effect that can enhance the performance of electronic and quantum devices, such as transistors [Thompson2006, opens in a new window] and quantum wells [Corley-Wiciak2023, opens in a new window]. High-spin nuclei, such as the spin-7/2 123Sb, contain a quadrupole moment that enables both electrical (nuclear electric resonance or NER) and mechanical [Pickens1984, opens in a new window] (nuclear acoustic resonance or NAR) control of spin state transitions.
Our group demonstrated NER of an 123Sb donor in a silicon-based quantum device [Asaad2020, opens in a new window], which led to simulation of a piezoelectric quantum device capable of achieving NAR of an 123Sb donor [O’Neill2021, opens in a new window]. The AlN-based piezoelectric actuator produces an oscillating strain in the donor-implanted silicon device that mechanically drives 123Sb nuclear spin state transitions. We plan to extend these experiments to large mechanical resonators capable of strong spin-phonon coupling, with the aim of investigating the quantum nature of gravity.
- Publications
- Team
- Collaborators
O’Neill, L. A., Joecker, B., Baczewski, A. D. and Morello, A., Engineering local strain for single-atom nuclear acoustic resonance in silicon, Applied Physics Letters 119, 174001 (2021), opens in a new window.
Juha Muhonen, opens in a new window at University of Jyväskylä, Benjamin Joecker, opens in a new window at University of Copenhagen, David N. Jamieson, opens in a new window at University of Melbourne, Fay Hudson at UNSW Sydney, Andrew Dzurak at UNSW Sydney, Kohei M Itoh, opens in a new window at Keio University.