Spin-cooling of the motion of a trapped diamond

Coupling the spins of many nitrogen-vacancy centres in a trapped diamond to its orientation produces a spin-dependent torque and spin-cooling of the motion of the diamond. Observing and controlling macroscopic quantum systems has long been a driving force in quantum physics research. In particular, strong coupling between individual quantum systems and mechanical oscillators is being actively studied(1-3). Whereas both read-out of mechanical motion using coherent control of spin systems(4-9) and single-spin read-out using pristine oscillators have been demonstrated(10,11), temperature control of the motion of a macroscopic object using long-lived electronic spins has not been reported. Here we observe a spin-dependent torque and spin-cooling of the motion of a trapped microdiamond. Using a combination of microwave and laser excitation enables the spins of nitrogen-vacancy centres to act on the diamond orientation and to cool the diamond libration via a dynamical back-action. Furthermore, by driving the system in the nonlinear regime, we demonstrate bistability and self-sustained coherent oscillations stimulated by spin-mechanical coupling, which offers the prospect of spin-driven generation of non-classical states of motion. Such a levitating diamond-held in position by electric field gradients under vacuum-can operate as a 'compass' with controlled dissipation and has potential use in high-precision torque sensing(12-14), emulation of the spin-boson problem(15) and probing of quantum phase transitions(16). In the single-spin limit(17) and using ultrapure nanoscale diamonds, it could allow quantum non-demolition read-out of the spin of nitrogen-vacancy centres at ambient conditions, deterministic entanglement between distant individual spins(18) and matter-wave interferometry(16,19,20).