arXiv subjects

Johannes Majer

Publications and source records attributed to Johannes Majer.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

A three-dimensional multimode lumped-element resonator for collective spin manipulation and dispersive readout

We report a three-dimensional lumped-element multimode microwave resonator that enables homogeneous collective manipulation and dispersive readout of a macroscopic spin ensemble. By exploiting geometric symmetry, two antisymmetric modes with strongly suppressed cross-talk are engineered to spatially overlap and couple to the same ensemble at distinct frequencies. Using negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond at 28 mK, we observe collective strong coupling with a coupling strength of 5.0 MHz and demonstrate non-destructive dispersive readout via a detuned mode. The compact design, tunable coupling, and high field homogeneity make this resonator a versatile device for hybrid spin-photon systems and multimode solid-state quantum technologies.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Genuine Tripartite Strong Coupling in a Superconducting-Spin Hybrid Quantum System

We demonstrate genuine tripartite strong coupling in a solid-state hybrid quantum system comprising a superconducting transmon qubit, a fixed-frequency coplanar-waveguide resonator, and an ensemble of NV$^-$ centers in diamond. Frequency-domain spectroscopy reveals a characteristic three-mode avoided crossing, indicating that single excitations are coherently shared across all three subsystems. At higher probe powers, we observe nonlinear features including multiphoton transitions and signatures of transmon-${}^{14}\mathrm{N}$ nuclear-spin interactions, highlighting the accessibility of higher-excitation manifolds in this architecture. These results establish a new regime of hybrid cavity QED that integrates superconducting and spin degrees of freedom, providing a platform for exploring complex multicomponent dynamics and developing hybrid quantum interfaces.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Optimal coupling of HoW$_{10}$ molecular magnets to superconducting circuits near spin clock transitions

A central goal in quantum technologies is to maximize $G$T$_{2}$, where $G$ stands for the coupling of a qubit to control and readout signals and T$_{2}$ is the qubit's coherence time. This is challenging, as increasing $G$ (e.g. by coupling the qubit more strongly to external stimuli) often leads to deleterious effects on T$_{2}$. Here, we study the coupling of pure and magnetically diluted crystals of HoW$_{10}$ magnetic clusters to microwave superconducting coplanar waveguides. Absorption lines give a broadband picture of the magnetic energy level scheme and, in particular, confirm the existence of level anticrossings at equidistant magnetic fields determined by the combination of crystal field and hyperfine interactions. Such 'spin clock transitions' are known to shield the electronic spins against magnetic field fluctuations. The analysis of the microwave transmission shows that the spin-photon coupling becomes also maximum at these transitions. The results show that engineering spin-clock states of molecular systems offers a promising strategy to combine sizeable spin-photon interactions with a sufficient isolation from unwanted magnetic noise sources.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Perspective on witnessing entanglement in hybrid quantum systems

Hybrid quantum systems aim at combining the advantages of different physical systems and to produce novel quantum devices. In particular, the hybrid combination of superconducting circuits and spins in solid-state crystals is a versatile platform to explore many quantum electrodynamics problems. Recently, the remote coupling of nitrogen-vacancy center spins in diamond via a superconducting bus was demonstrated. However, a rigorous experimental test of the quantum nature of this hybrid system and in particular entanglement is still missing. We review the theoretical ideas to generate and detect entanglement, and present our own scheme to achieve this.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Ab initio calculation of the spin lattice relaxation time $T_1$ for nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond

We investigate the fundamental mechanism of spin phonon coupling in the negatively charged nitrogen vacancy center $(\mathrm{NV}^-)$ in diamond in order to calculate the spin lattice relaxation time $T_1$ and its temperature dependence from first principles. Starting from the dipolar spin-spin interaction between two electrons, we couple the spins of the electrons to the movements of the ions and end up with an effective spin-phonon interaction potential $V_{s-ph}$. Taking this time dependent potential as a perturbation of the system, a Fermi's golden rule expression for transition rates is obtained which allows to calculate the spin lattice relaxation time $T_1$. We simulate the color center with the Vienna Ab initio Simulation Package (VASP) to extract the figures necessary to quantify $T_1$. We investigate on the local phonon modes of the color center within the harmonic approximation using the small displacement method and extract the phononic density of states and bandstructure by diagonalizing the dynamical matrix using the phononpy package. We show that our model allows to calculate $T_1$ in good agreement with experimental observations.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Superradiant Hybrid Quantum Devices

Superradiance is the archetypical collective phenomenon where radiation is amplified by the coherence of emitters. It plays a prominent role in optics, where it enables the design of lasers with substantially reduced linewidths, quantum mechanics, and is even used to explain cosmological observations like Hawking radiation from black holes. Hybridization of distinct quantum systems allows to engineer new quantum metamaterials pooling the advantages of the individual systems. Superconducting circuits coupled to spin ensembles are promising future building blocks of integrated quantum devices and superradiance will play a prominent role. As such it is important to study its fundamental properties in hybrid devices. Experiments in the strong coupling regime have shown oscillatory behaviour in these systems but a clear signature of Dicke superradiance has been missing so far. Here we explore superradiance in a hybrid system composed of a superconducting resonator in the fast cavity limit inductively coupled to an inhomogeneously broadened ensemble of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centres. We observe a superradiant pulse being emitted a trillion of times faster than the decay for an individual NV centre. This is further confirmed by the non-linear scaling of the emitted radiation intensity with respect to the ensemble size. Our work provides the foundation for future quantum technologies including solid state superradiant masers.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

Solid-state electron spin lifetime limited by phononic vacuum modes

Longitudinal relaxation is the process by which an excited spin ensemble decays into its thermal equilibrium with the environment. In solid-state spin systems relaxation into the phonon bath usually dominates over the coupling to the electromagnetic vacuum. In the quantum limit the spin lifetime is determined by phononic vacuum fluctuations. However, this limit was not observed in previous studies due to thermal phonon contributions or phonon-bottleneck processes. Here we use a dispersive detection scheme based on cavity quantum electrodynamics (cQED) to observe this quantum limit of spin relaxation of the negatively charged nitrogen vacancy ($\mathrm{NV}^-$) centre in diamond. Diamond possesses high thermal conductivity even at low temperatures, which eliminates phonon-bottleneck processes. We observe exceptionally long longitudinal relaxation times $T_1$ of up to 8h. To understand the fundamental mechanism of spin-phonon coupling in this system we develop a theoretical model and calculate the relaxation time ab initio. The calculations confirm that the low phononic density of states at the $\mathrm{NV}^-$ transition frequency enables the spin polarization to survive over macroscopic timescales.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Dynamical Exploration of Amplitude Bistability in Engineered Quantum Systems

Nonlinear systems, whose outputs are not directly proportional to their inputs, are well known to exhibit many interesting and important phenomena which have profoundly changed our technological landscape over the last 50 years. Recently the ability to engineer quantum metamaterials through hybridisation has allowed to explore these nonlinear effects in systems with no natural analogue. Here we investigate amplitude bistability, which is one of the most fundamental nonlinear phenomena, in a hybrid system composed of a superconducting resonator inductively coupled to an ensemble of nitrogen-vacancy centres. One of the exciting properties of this spin system is its extremely long spin life-time, more than ten orders of magnitude longer than other relevant timescales of the hybrid system. This allows us to dynamically explore this nonlinear regime of cavity quantum electrodynamics (cQED) and demonstrate a critical slowing down of the cavity population on the order of several tens of thousands of seconds - a timescale much longer than observed so far for this effect. Our results provide the foundation for future quantum technologies based on nonlinear phenomena.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

Coherent Coupling of Remote Spin Ensembles via a Cavity Bus

We report coherent coupling between two macroscopically separated nitrogen-vacancy electron spin ensembles in a cavity quantum electrodynamics system. The coherent interaction between the distant ensembles is directly detected in the cavity transmission spectrum by observing bright and dark collective multiensemble states and an increase of the coupling strength to the cavity mode. Additionally, in the dispersive limit we show transverse ensemble-ensemble coupling via virtual photons.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

Collective Strong Coupling with Homogeneous Rabi Frequencies using a 3D Lumped Element Microwave Resonator

We design and implement 3D lumped element microwave cavities for the coherent and uniform coupling to electron spins hosted by nitrogen vacancy centers in diamond. Our design spatially focuses the magnetic field to a small mode volume. We achieve large homogeneous single spin coupling rates, with an enhancement of the single spin Rabi frequency of more than one order of magnitude compared to standard 3D cavities with a fundamental resonance at \SI{3}{GHz}. Finite element simulations confirm that the magnetic field component is homogeneous throughout the entire sample volume, with a RMS deviation of 1.54\%. With a sample containing $10^{17}$ nitrogen vacancy electron spins we achieve a collective coupling strength of $Ω=\SI{12}{MHz}$, a cooperativity factor $C=27$ and clearly enter the strong coupling regime. This allows to interface a macroscopic spin ensemble with microwave circuits, and the homogeneous Rabi frequency paves the way to manipulate the full ensemble population in a coherent way.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2015

Engineering Long-Lived Collective Dark States in Spin Ensembles

Ensembles of electron spins in hybrid microwave systems are powerful and versatile components for future quantum technologies. Quantum memories with high storage capacities are one such example which require long-lived states that can be addressed and manipulated coherently within the inhomogeneously broadened ensemble. This broadening is essential for true multimode memories, but induces a considerable spin dephasing and together with dissipation from a cavity interface poses a constraint on the memory's storage time. In this work we show how to overcome both of these limitations through the engineering of long-lived dark states in an ensemble of electron spins hosted by nitrogen-vacancy centres in diamond. By burning narrow spectral holes into a spin ensemble strongly coupled to a superconducting microwave cavity, we observe long-lived Rabi oscillations with high visibility and a decay rate that is a factor of forty smaller than the spin ensemble linewidth and thereby a factor of more than three below the pure cavity dissipation rate. This significant reduction lives up to the promise of hybrid devices to perform better than their individual subcomponents. To demonstrate the potential of our approach we realise the first step towards a solid-state microwave spin multiplexer by engineering multiple long-lived dark states. Our results show that we can fully access the "decoherence free" subspace in our experiment and selectively prepare protected states by spectral hole burning. This technique opens up the way for truly long-lived quantum memories, solid-state microwave frequency combs, optical to microwave quantum transducers and spin squeezed states. Our approach also paves the way for a new class of cavity QED experiments with dense spin ensembles, where dipole spin-spin interactions become important and many-body phenomena will be directly accessible on a chip.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

Smooth optimal quantum control for robust solid state spin magnetometry

Nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond show great potential as magnetic, electric and thermal sensors which are naturally packaged in a bio-compatible material. In particular, NV-based magnetometers combine small sensor volumes with high sensitivities under ambient conditions. The practical operation of such sensors, however, requires advanced quantum control techniques that are robust with respect to experimental and material imperfections, control errors, and noise. Here, we present a novel approach that uses Floquet theory to efficiently generate smooth and simple quantum control pulses with tailored robustness properties. We verify their performance by applying them to a single NV center and by characterising the resulting quantum gate using quantum process tomography. We show how the sensitivity of NV-ensemble magnetometry schemes can be improved by up to two orders of magnitude by compensating for inhomogeneities in both the control field and the spin transition frequency. Our approach is ideally suited for a wide variety of quantum technologies requiring high-fidelity, robust control under tight bandwidth requirements, such as spin-ensemble based memories involving high-Q cavities.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

Nanometric constrictions in superconducting coplanar waveguide resonators

We report on the design, fabrication and characterization of superconducting coplanar waveguide resonators with nanoscopic constrictions. By reducing the size of the center line down to 50 nm, the radio frequency currents are concentrated and the magnetic field in its vicinity is increased. The device characteristics are only slightly modified by the constrictions, with changes in resonance frequency lower than 1% and internal quality factors of the same order of magnitude as the original ones. These devices could enable the achievement of higher couplings to small magnetic samples or even to single molecular spins and have applications in circuit quantum electrodynamics, quantum computing and electron paramagnetic resonance.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2014

Non-Markovian dynamics of a single-mode cavity strongly coupled to an inhomogeneously broadened spin ensemble

We study the dynamics of a spin ensemble strongly coupled to a single-mode resonator driven by external pulses. When the mean frequency of the spin ensemble is in resonance with the cavity mode, damped Rabi oscillations are found between the spin ensemble and the cavity mode which we describe very accurately, including the dephasing effect of the inhomogeneous spin broadening. We demonstrate that a precise knowledge of this broadening is crucial both for a qualitative and a quantitative understanding of the temporal spin-cavity dynamics. On this basis we show that coherent oscillations between the spin ensemble and the cavity can be enhanced by a few orders of magnitude, when driving the system with pulses that match special resonance conditions. Our theoretical approach is tested successfully with an experiment based on an ensemble of negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond strongly coupled to a superconducting coplanar single-mode waveguide resonator.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

Implementation of the Dicke lattice model in hybrid quantum system arrays

Generalized Dicke models can be implemented in hybrid quantum systems built from ensembles of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond coupled to superconducting microwave cavities. By engineering cavity assisted Raman transitions between two spin states of the NV defect, a fully tunable model for collective light-matter interactions in the ultra-strong coupling limit can be obtained. Our analysis of the resulting non-equilibrium phases for a single cavity and for coupled cavity arrays shows that different superradiant phase transitions can be observed using existing experimental technologies, even in the presence of large inhomogeneous broadening of the spin ensemble. The phase diagram of the Dicke lattice model displays distinct features induced by dissipation, which can serve as a genuine experimental signature for phase transitions in driven open quantum systems.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

Protecting a Spin Ensemble against Decoherence in the Strong-Coupling Regime of Cavity QED

Hybrid quantum systems based on spin ensembles coupled to superconducting microwave cavities are promising candidates for robust experiments in cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) and for future technologies employing quantum mechanical effects. Currently the main source of decoherence in these systems is inho- mogeneous spin broadening, which limits their performance for the coherent transfer and storage of quantum information. Here we study the dynamics of a superconducting cavity strongly coupled to an ensemble of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond. We experimentally observe for the first time, how decoherence induced by a non-Lorentzian spin distribution can be suppressed in the strong-coupling regime - a phenomenon known as "cavity protection". To demonstrate the potential of this effect for coherent control schemes, we show how appropriately chosen microwave pulses can increase the amplitude of coherent oscillations between cavity and spin ensemble by two orders of magnitude.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

Magnetic conveyor belt transport of ultracold atoms to a superconducting atomchip

We report the realization of a robust magnetic transport scheme to bring 3x10^8 ultracold 87Rb atoms into a cryostat. The sequence starts with standard laser cooling and trapping of 87Rb atoms, transporting first horizontally and then vertically through the radiation shields into a cryostat by a series of normal- and superconducting magnetic coils. Loading the atoms in a superconducting microtrap paves the way for studying the interaction of ultracold atoms with superconducting surfaces and quantum devices requiring cryogenic temperatures.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2013

Creation of ensembles of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond by neutron and electron irradiation

We created dense ensembles of negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV-) centers in diamond by neutron and electron irradiation for applications in hybrid quantum systems and magnetometry. We characterize fluorescence intensity, optical and coherence properties of the resulting defects by confocal microscopy, UV/Vis and FTIR spectroscopy, optically detected magnetic resonance and small angle X-ray scattering. We find the highest densities of NV- at neutron fluences on the order of 10^17 cm^-2 and electron doses of 10^18 cm^-2, with spin resonance linewidths of 6 MHz. Lower electron energies increase the ratio of centers in the desired negative charge state to those in the neutral one. Annealing at 900 °C during the irradiation reduces the spin resonance linewidth. Electron irradiation furthermore results in substantially higher optical transparency compared to neutron irradiation.

quant-ph↗