Quantum 2025 – scientific programme

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FRI: Friday Contributed Sessions

FRI 9: Fundamental Quantum Tests

FRI 9.1: Talk

Friday, September 12, 2025, 10:45–11:00, ZHG101

Optically Hyperpolarized Materials for Levitated Optomechanics - Testing the Nuclear Einstein de-Haas and Barnett Effect — •Marit O. E. Steiner, Julen S. Pedernales, and Martin B. Plenio — Institute of Theoretical Physics, Ulm University, Germany

Levitated solids with controllable spins offer a new platform for exploring spin-mechanical interactions in the solid state. Nuclear spin hyperpolarization enables investigation of the weak couplings between nuclear spins and rotational degrees of freedom, which have so far eluded experimental observation.

I will explore the potential of levitating solids embedded with optically controllable electron spins, which can hyperpolarize their nuclear spin environment. Pentacene-doped naphthalene serves as a leading example. Leveraging photo-excited triplet states in pentacene, this system achieves nuclear spin hyperpolarization in naphthalene with demonstrated polarization rates up to 80%, significantly enhancing spin-dependent forces and sensitivity to spin-rotational couplings.

I then investigate the use of hyperpolarized naphthalene to probe the nuclear Einstein-de Haas and Barnett effect. These theoretically predicted effects have not yet been observed in solids due to weak spin-mechanical coupling. By combining polarized hydrogen nuclear spins with controllable particle rotation, we propose a protocol to enable their first detection in the solid state.

Keywords: Levitated optomechanics; Einstein-de Haas Effect; Hyperpolarization; Barnett Effect; Spin-Rotation Coupling