Electrically tunable quantum interference of atomic spins on surfaces
Controlling quantum interference near avoided energy-level crossings is crucial for fast and reliable coherent manipulation in quantum information processing. However, achieving tunable quantum interference in atomically-precise engineered structures remains challenging. Here, we demonstrate electrical control of quantum interference using atomic spins on an insulating film in a scanning tunneling microscope. Using bias voltages applied across the tunnel junction, we modulate the atomically-confined magnetic interaction between the probe tip and surface atoms with a strong electric field, and drive the spin state rapidly through the energy-level anticrossing. This all-electrical manipulation allows us to achieve Landau-Zener-Stückelberg-Majorana (LZSM) interferometry on both single spins and pairs of interacting spins. The LZSM pattern exhibits multiphoton resonances, and its asymmetry suggests that the spin dynamics is influenced by spin-transfer torque of tunneling electrons. Multi-level LZSM spectra measured on coupled spins with tunable interactions show distinct interference patterns depending on their many-body energy landscapes. These results open new avenues for all-electrical quantum manipulation in spin-based quantum processors in the strongly driven regime.
Authors
- Lili Jiang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6930-4323)
- Y. del Castillo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3139-9873)
- J. Fernández‐Rossier (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2297-0289)
- Alejandro Ferrón (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8106-4193)
- Zanyi Wu
- Kai Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5863-3666)
- Hao Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1961-0787)
- Heng Fan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5328-2449)
- Jing Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7442-3741)
- Fan Peng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-2886-1593)
- Shijie Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0242-0802)
Institutions
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- National University of the Northeast (AR)
- Centro Científico Tecnológico - Nordeste (AR)
- FZU ‒ Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (CZ)
- International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (PT)
- Institute of Physics (CN)
- National Laboratory for Superconductivity (CN)
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-10-09
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-64022-9
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Quantum optics and atomic interactions
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.49
Funders
- European Commission
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Generalitat Valenciana
- Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia