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DOE OSTI2024

Quantum embedding study of strain- and electric-field-induced Stark effects on the NV - center in diamond

The NV - color center in diamond has been demonstrated as a powerful nanosensor for quantum metrology due to the sensitivity of its optical and spin properties to external electric, magnetic, and strain fields. In view of these applications, we use quantum embedding to derive a many-body description of strain- and electric-field-induced Stark effects on the NV - center. Here, we quantify how strain longitudinal to the axis of NV - shifts the excited states in energy, while strain with a component transverse to the NV - axis splits the degeneracies of the 3 E and 1 E states. The largest effects are for the optically relevant 3 E manifold, which splits into E x and E y with transverse strain. From these responses we extract strain susceptibilities for the E x/y states within the quasilinear regime. Additionally, we study the many-body dipole matrix elements of the NV - and find a permanent dipole 1.6 D at zero strain, which is somewhat smaller than that obtained from recent density functional theory calculations. We also determine the transition dipole between the E x and E y and how it evolves with strain.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

DOE OSTI2025

Quantum Sensing using Geometrical Phase in Qubit-Oscillator Systems

We present a quantum sensing protocol for coupled qubit-oscillator systems that surpasses the standard quantum limit (SQL) by exploiting a geometrical phase. The signal is encoded in the geometrical phase that is proportional to the area enclosed in oscillator phase space. This area is amplified through squeezing, enabling sensitivities beyond the SQL. Our method is independent of oscillator's initial state, amenable to sensing with high-temperature or logical error-corrected states. The protocol shows robustness to qubit Markovian noise and preserves its state-independence, underscoring its practicality for next-generation quantum metrology. We demonstrate application to force sensing beyond the SQL in longitudinally coupled systems, and to high-precision measurements of couplings and pulse calibration surpassing SQL in dispersively coupled circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED) architectures.

Suri, Nishchay [LBNL, Berkeley]↗

DOE OSTI2026

Subterahertz Spin Relaxation Dynamics of Boron-Vacancy Centers in Hexagonal Boron Nitride

Quantum sensors based on spin defects have become powerful tools for detecting faint magnetic signals, yet their operation remains confined to low magnetic fields and gigahertz frequencies. Extending such sensors into high-field (>0.3 T) and subterahertz regimes would enable quantum metrology across a wide range of electromagnetic phenomena and scientific applications, but has proven challenging. Here, we demonstrate that negatively charged boron vacancies ($V^−_B$) in hexagonal boron nitride can function as relaxation-based quantum sensors operating up to 0.2 terahertz and 7 T fields. Their uniform spin-orientation and persistent spin-contrast at high fields enable measurement of intrinsic spin relaxation across unexplored field regimes. We reveal a crossover in relaxation behavior, initially decreasing at low fields before rising at higher fields, consistent with the emergence of single-phonon-induced resonant noise at subterahertz frequencies. These results establish $V^−_B$ centers as a versatile platform for quantum sensing in the subterahertz, high-field regime.

boron-vacancies↗

DOE OSTI2026

Precision spectroscopy of nuclear decays using quantum optomechanical sensors

This project developed and demonstrated a fundamentally new way to detect individual nuclear decays: rather than capturing the energy that decay products deposit in a detector, we measure the tiny mechanical recoil of the entire micron- or nanometer-sized particle in which the decaying nucleus is embedded. Because momentum is conserved, this approach is sensitive even to neutral, weakly interacting particles, including neutrinos, that escape conventional detectors. During the award, the Yale group reported the first-ever mechanical detection of single nuclear decays, a result featured widely in the scientific press, and pushed the sensitivity of smaller levitated nanoparticles into the quantum measurement regime, reaching an impulse resolution within a factor of five of the fundamental Standard Quantum Limit (SQL), good enough in principle to detect the momentum kicked to the particle by a single emitted neutrino. In parallel, the LBNL group developed the theory of quantum-enhanced (sub-SQL) readout tailored to this experiment, showing how squeezed light can push the sensitivity below the SQL. Together these results establish levitated optomechanical sensors as a new tool for precision nuclear decay spectroscopy, with further applications in neutrino physics, quantum metrology, and nuclear forensics and safeguards.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2026

Time Correlations from Steady-State Expectation Values

Recovering properties of correlation functions is typically challenging. On the one hand, experimentally, it requires measurements with a temporal resolution finer than the system’s dynamics. On the other hand, analytical or numerical analysis requires solving the system evolution. Here, we use recent results of quantum metrology with continuous measurements to derive general lower bounds on the relaxation and second-order correlation times that are both easy to calculate and measure. These bounds are based solely on steady-state expectation values and their derivatives with respect to a system parameter, and can be readily extended to the autocorrelation of arbitrary observables. We validate our method on two examples of critical quantum systems: a critical driven-dissipative resonator, where the bound matches analytical results for the dynamics, and the infinite-range Ising model, where only the steady state is solvable, and thus the bound provides information beyond the reach of existing analytical approaches. Our results can be applied to the experimental characterization of ultrafast systems and to the theoretical analysis of many-body models whose dynamics are hard to compute.

Górecki, Wojciech [INFN, Pavia] (ORCID:00000001991↗

DOE OSTI2025

Time correlations from steady-state expectation values

Recovering properties of correlation functions is typically challenging. On one hand, experimentally, it requires measurements with a temporal resolution finer than the system's dynamics. On the other hand, analytical or numerical analysis requires solving the system evolution. Here, we use recent results of quantum metrology with continuous measurements to derive general lower bounds on the relaxation and second-order correlation times that are both easy to calculate and measure. These bounds are based solely on steady-state expectation values and their derivatives with respect to a control parameter, and can be readily extended to the autocorrelation of arbitrary observables. We validate our method on two examples of critical quantum systems: a critical driven-dissipative resonator, where the bound matches analytical results for the dynamics, and the infinite-range Ising model, where only the steady state is solvable and thus the bound provides information beyond the reach of existing analytical approaches. Our results can be applied to experimentally characterize ultrafast systems, and to theoretically analyze many-body models with dynamics that are analytically or numerically hard.

Górecki, Wojciech [INFN, Pavia]↗

DOE OSTI2025

Time correlations from steady-state expectation values

Górecki, Wojciech [INFN, Pavia]↗

DOE OSTI2025

Estimating time in quantum chaotic systems and black holes

We characterize new universal features of the dynamics of chaotic quantum many-body systems, by considering a hypothetical task of "time estimation". Most macroscopic observables in a chaotic system equilibrate to nearly constant late-time values. Intuitively, it should become increasingly difficult to estimate the precise value of time by making measurements on the state. We use a quantity called the Fisher information from quantum metrology to quantify the minimum uncertainty in estimating time. Due to unitarity, the uncertainty in the time estimate does not grow with time if we have access to optimal measurements on the full system. Restricting the measurements to act on a small subsystem or to have low computational complexity leads to results expected from equilibration, where the time uncertainty becomes large at late times. With optimal measurements on a subsystem larger than half of the system, we regain the ability to estimate the time very precisely, even at late times. Hawking's calculation for the reduced density matrix of the black hole radiation in semiclassical gravity contradicts our general predictions for unitary quantum chaotic systems. Hawking's state always has a large uncertainty for attempts to estimate the time using the radiation, whereas our general results imply that the uncertainty should become small after the Page time. This gives a new version of the black hole information loss paradox in terms of the time estimation task. By restricting to simple measurements on the radiation, the time uncertainty becomes large. This indicates from a new perspective that the observations of computationally bounded agents are consistent with the semiclassical effective description of gravity.

Black holes↗

DOE OSTI2026

Astigmatism-free 3D optical tweezer control for rapid atom rearrangement

Reconfigurable neutral-atom arrays are a promising platform for quantum computing, quantum simulation, and quantum metrology, but atom transport using frequency-chirped acousto-optic deflectors (AODs) is limited by chirp-induced acoustic lensing and trajectory distortion. We address these limitations using a three-dimensional acousto-optic deflector lens (3D-AODL), a design predicted to reduce long-range transport times by more than a factor of two. We further introduce fading-Shepard waveforms that circumvent finite AOD bandwidth, enabling sustained axial displacement. We demonstrate unrestricted three-dimensional optical-tweezer motion over a 200 μm × 200 μm × 136 μm volume with velocities exceeding 4.2 m/s. Arbitrary three-dimensional control of optical-tweezer trajectories enables rapid atom rearrangement and dynamical engineering of optical potentials in tweezer arrays and optical lattices. This capability advances quantum control and atom manipulation in neutral-atom quantum processors by enabling faster rearrangement, higher clock rates, and scalable sorting in complex geometries.

Lu, Yue-Hui [University of California, Berkeley, C↗

DOE OSTI2025

Quantum learning advantage on a scalable photonic platform

Recent advances in quantum technologies have demonstrated that quantum systems can outperform classical ones in specific tasks, a concept known as quantum advantage. Although previous efforts have focused on computational speedups, a definitive and provable quantum advantage that is unattainable by any classical system has remained elusive. Here, in this work, we demonstrate a provable photonic quantum advantage by implementing a quantum-enhanced protocol for learning a high-dimensional physical process. Using imperfect Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen entanglement, we achieve a sample complexity reduction of 11.8 orders of magnitude compared to classical methods without entanglement. These results show that large-scale, provable quantum advantage is achievable with current photonic technology and represent a key step toward practical quantum-enhanced learning protocols in quantum metrology and machine learning.

Liu, Zheng-Hao [Technical Univ. of Denmark, Lyngby↗

DOE OSTI2024

Statistics and sensitivity of axion wind detection with the homogeneous precession domain of superfluid helium-3

The homogeneous precession domain (HPD) of superfluid He 3 has recently been identified as a detection medium which might provide sensitivity to the axion-nucleon coupling g a N N competitive with, or surpassing, existing experimental proposals. In this work, we make a detailed study of the statistical and dynamical properties of the HPD system in order to make realistic projections for a full-fledged experimental program. We include the effects of clock error and measurement error in a concrete readout scheme using superconducting qubits and quantum metrology. This work also provides a more general framework to describe the statistics associated with the axion gradient coupling through the treatment of a transient resonance with a nonstationary background in a time-series analysis. Incorporating an optimal data-taking and analysis strategy, we project a sensitivity approaching g a N N ∼ 10 − 12 GeV − 1 across a decade in axion mass. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2024

Detecting single gravitons with quantum sensing

The quantization of gravity is widely believed to result in gravitons – particles of discrete energy that form gravitational waves. But their detection has so far been considered impossible. Here we show that signatures of single graviton exchange can be observed in laboratory experiments. We show that stimulated and spontaneous single-graviton processes can become relevant for massive quantum acoustic resonators and that stimulated absorption can be resolved through continuous sensing of quantum jumps. We analyze the feasibility of observing the exchange of single energy quanta between matter and gravitational waves. Our results show that single graviton signatures are within reach of experiments. In analogy to the discovery of the photo-electric effect for photons, such signatures can provide the first experimental clue of the quantization of gravity.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

DOE OSTI2025

High-temperature quantum coherence of spinons in a rare-earth spin chain

Conventional wisdom dictates that quantum effects become unimportant at high temperatures. In magnets, when the thermal energy exceeds interactions between atomic magnetic moments, the moments are usually uncorrelated, and classical paramagnetic behavior is observed. This thermal decoherence of quantum spin behaviors is a major hindrance to quantum information applications of spin systems. Remarkably, our neutron scattering experiments on Yb chains in an insulating perovskite crystal defy these conventional expectations. We find a sharply defined spectrum of spinons, fractional quantum excitations of spin-1/2 chains, to persist to temperatures much higher than the scale of the interactions between Yb magnetic moments. The observed sharpness of the spinon continuum’s dispersive upper boundary indicates a spinon mean free path exceeding ≈ 35 inter-atomic spacings at temperatures more than an order of magnitude above the interaction energy scale. We thus discover an important and highly unique quantum behavior, which expands the realm of quantumness to high temperatures where entropy-governed classical behaviors were previously believed to dominate. Our results have profound implications for spin systems in quantum information applications operating at finite temperatures and motivate new developments in quantum metrology.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

DOE OSTI2026

Probing boron vacancy defects in hBN via single spin relaxometry

Spin defects in solids offer promising platforms for quantum sensing and memory due to their long coherence times and optical addressability. Here, we integrate a single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond with scanning probe microscopy to detect, read out, and spatially map spin-based quantum sensors at the nanoscale. Using the boron vacancy ($V$$^{–}_{B}$) center in hexagonal boron nitride—an emerging two-dimensional spin system—as a model, we detect its electron spin resonance indirectly via changes in the spin relaxation time (T 1 ) of a nearby NV center, eliminating the need for optical excitation or fluorescence detection of the $V$$^{–}_{B}$. Cross-relaxation between NV and $V$$^{–}_{B}$ ensembles significantly reduces NV T1, enabling quantitative nanoscale mapping of defect densities beyond the optical diffraction limit and clear resolution of hyperfine splitting in isotopically enriched h 10 B 15 N. Our method demonstrates interactions between spin sensors in 3D and 2D materials, establishing NV centers as versatile probes for characterizing otherwise inaccessible spin defects.

Quantum metrology↗

DOE OSTI2026

Cosmic axions revealed via amplified modulation of the ellipticity of a laser

We propose a new axion dark matter detection strategy that employs optical readout of laser beam ellipticity modulations caused by axion-induced electric fields in a microwave cavity, using electro-optic (EO) crystals, enhanced by externally injected radio-frequency (rf) power. Building upon the variance-based probing method [Phys. Rev. D 107, 103005 (2023).], we extend this concept to the optical domain: A weak probe laser interacts with an EO crystal coupled to the resonant microwave cavity field at cryogenic temperatures, and the axion-induced electric field is revealed through induced ellipticity. The injected rf signal coherently interferes with that of the axion field, amplifying the optical response and significantly improving sensitivity. While our EO-based method employs a Fabry-Pérot resonator, we do not require Michelson interferometers. Our method, hence, enables compact, high-frequency axion searches, across the 0.5–50 GHz range. Operating at cryogenic temperatures not only suppresses thermal backgrounds, but, critically, allows the probing method to mitigate the quantum noise. This approach offers a scalable path forward for axion detection over the ∼(few−200) μ⁢eV mass range—covering the preferred parameter space for the postinflationary Peccei-Quinn axion dark matter—using compact, tunable systems.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2025

Out-of-Distribution Generalization for Learning Quantum Channels with Low-Energy Coherent States

When experimentally learning the action of a continuous-variable quantum process by probing it with inputs, there will often be some restriction on the input states used. One experimentally simple way to probe a quantum channel is to use low-energy coherent states. Learning a quantum channel in this way presents difficulties, due to the fact that two channels may act similarly on low-energy inputs but very differently for high-energy inputs. They may also act similarly on coherent-state inputs but differently on nonclassical inputs. Extrapolating the behavior of a channel for more general input states from its action on the far more limited set of low-energy coherent states is a case of out-of-distribution generalization. To be sure that such generalization gives meaningful results, one needs to relate error bounds for the training set to bounds that are valid for all inputs. We show that for any pair of channels that act sufficiently similarly on low-energy coherent-state inputs, one can bound how different the input-output relations are for any (high-energy or highly nonclassical) input. This proves that out-of-distribution generalization is always possible for learning quantum channels using low-energy coherent states, as long as enough samples are used.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

DOE OSTI2025

Stochastic Waveform Estimation at the Fundamental Quantum Limit

Although measuring the deterministic waveform of a weak classical force is a well-studied problem, estimating a random waveform, such as the spectral density of a stochastic signal field, is much less well understood despite it being a widespread task at the frontier of experimental physics. State-of-the-art precision sensors of random forces must account for the underlying quantum nature of the measurement but the optimal quantum protocol for interrogating such linear sensors is not known. We derive the fundamental precision limit: the extended-channel quantum Cramér-Rao bound. In the experimentally relevant regime in which losses dominate, we prove that non-Gaussian-state preparation and measurement are required to achieve this fundamental limit and we determine numerically the optimal non-Gaussian protocol. We discuss how this scheme could accelerate searches for signatures of quantum gravity, stochastic gravitational waves, and axionic dark matter.

Axions↗

DOE OSTI2025

Ansatz-Free Hamiltonian Learning with Heisenberg-Limited Scaling

Learning the unknown interactions that govern a quantum system is crucial for quantum information processing, device benchmarking, and quantum sensing. The problem, known as Hamiltonian learning, is well understood under the assumption that interactions are local, but this assumption may not hold for arbitrary Hamiltonians. Previous methods all require high-order inverse polynomial dependency with precision, unable to surpass the standard quantum limit and reach the gold-standard Heisenberg-limited scaling. Whether Heisenberg-limited Hamiltonian learning is possible without prior assumptions about the interaction structures, a challenge we term ansatz-free Hamiltonian learning , remains an open question. In this work, we present a quantum algorithm to learn arbitrary sparse Hamiltonians without any structure constraints using only black-box queries of the system’s real-time evolution and minimal digital controls to attain Heisenberg-limited scaling in estimation error. Our method is also resilient to state-preparation-and-measurement errors, enhancing its practical feasibility. We numerically demonstrate our ansatz-free protocol for learning physical Hamiltonians and validating analog quantum simulations, benchmarking our performance against the state-of-the-art Heisenberg-limited learning approach. Moreover, we establish a fundamental trade-off between total evolution time and quantum control on learning arbitrary interactions, revealing the intrinsic interplay between controllability and total evolution-time complexity for any learning algorithm. These results pave the way for further exploration into Heisenberg-limited Hamiltonian learning in complex quantum systems under minimal assumptions, potentially enabling new benchmarking and verification protocols.

machine learning↗