A new class of control pulses can manipulate nuclear spins 30 times faster and more accurately than any previous method.
April 23, 2026
Original Paper
Error-correcting transition pulses for co-located spin ensembles without frequency selectivity
arXiv · 2604.19908
The Takeaway
Nuclear spin ensembles are critical tools for detecting the invisible particles that make up dark matter. These new error-correcting pulses allow scientists to flip the states of these spins with unprecedented speed and precision. By extending the lifetime of these quantum states, the technology dramatically increases the sensitivity of physics experiments. This breakthrough could finally provide the resolution needed to find signals from the Standard Model of physics. Faster control means we can now probe the secrets of the universe at a much finer grain.
From the abstract
We present a new class of control pulses designed to transfer co-located ensembles without relying on frequency selectivity, thereby allowing much faster state-transitions. A geometric approach allows us to construct sequences which are robust to changes in the background magnetic field along multiple axes, and errors in the pulse area. \red{These pulses are extremely fast, with robustness to pulse area shown at half the quantum speed limit.} We demonstrate these sequences on nuclear-dipole stat