Signal amplification in a solid-state sensor through asymmetric many-body echo

Gao, Haoyang [Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000305914031); Martin, Leigh S. [Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)]; Hughes, Lillian B. [Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000210201661); Leitao, Nathaniel T. [Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)]; Put, Piotr [Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000198975049); Zhou, Hengyun [Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States); QuEra Computing, Boston, MA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000221488856); Koyluoglu, Nazli U. [Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000202370975); Meynell, Simon A. [Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)]; Jayich, Ania C. Bleszynski [Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)]; Park, Hongkun [Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000195768829); Lukin, Mikhail D. [Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000286581007)

doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09452-7

DOE OSTI · 3376339

Signal amplification in a solid-state sensor through asymmetric many-body echo

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Abstract

Electronic spins of nitrogen–vacancy centres in diamond constitute a promising system for micro- and nanoscale magnetic sensing, because of their operation under ambient conditions, ease of placement in close proximity to sensing targets and biological compatibility. At high densities, the electronic spins interact through dipolar coupling, which typically limits but can also potentially enhance sensing performance. Here we report the experimental demonstration of many-body signal amplification in a solid-state, room-temperature quantum sensor. Our approach uses time-reversed two-axis-twisting interactions, engineered through dynamical control of the quantization axis and Floquet engineering in a two-dimensional ensemble of nitrogen–vacancy centres. We observe that optimal amplification occurs when the backward evolution time equals twice the forward evolution time, in sharp contrast to the conventional Loschmidt echo. These observations can be understood as resulting from an underlying time-reversed mirror symmetry of the microscopic dynamics, providing key insights into signal amplification and opportunities for practical entanglement-enhanced quantum sensing.

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Gao, Haoyang [Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000305914031), Martin, Leigh S. [Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)], Hughes, Lillian B. [Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000210201661), Leitao, Nathaniel T. [Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)], Put, Piotr [Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000198975049), Zhou, Hengyun [Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States); QuEra Computing, Boston, MA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000221488856), Koyluoglu, Nazli U. [Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000202370975), Meynell, Simon A. [Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)], Jayich, Ania C. Bleszynski [Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)], Park, Hongkun [Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000195768829), Lukin, Mikhail D. [Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000286581007). 2025-10-01. Signal amplification in a solid-state sensor through asymmetric many-body echo. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09452-7

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