Spin-Mechanical Scheme with Color Centers in Hexagonal Boron Nitride Membranes

• Published in: Physical review letters 2017-12, Vol.119 (23), p.233602-233602, Article 233602
• Main Authors: Abdi, Mehdi, Hwang, Myung-Joong, Aghtar, Mortaza, Plenio, Martin B
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0031-9007; 1079-7114
• DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.233602

Recently observed quantum emitters in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) membranes have a potential for achieving high accessibility and controllability thanks to the lower spatial dimension. Moreover, these objects naturally have a high sensitivity to vibrations of the hosting membrane due to its low mass density and high elasticity modulus. Here, we propose and analyze a spin-mechanical system based on color centers in a suspended hBN mechanical resonator. Through group theoretical analyses and ab initio calculation of the electronic and spin properties of such a system, we identify a spin doublet ground state and demonstrate that a spin-motion interaction can be engineered, which enables ground-state cooling of the mechanical resonator. We also present a toolbox for initialization, rotation, and readout of the defect spin qubit. As a result, the proposed setup presents the possibility for studying a wide range of physics. To illustrate its assets, we show that a fast and noise-resilient preparation of a multicomponent cat state and a squeezed state of the mechanical resonator is possible; the latter is achieved by realizing the extremely detuned, ultrastrong coupling regime of the Rabi model, where a phonon superradiant phase transition is expected to occur.