Floquet prethermalization with lifetime exceeding 90s in a bulk hyperpolarized solid

Abstract

We report the observation of long-lived Floquet prethermal states in a bulk solid composed of dipolar-coupled $^{13}$C nuclei in diamond at room temperature. For precessing nuclear spins prepared in an initial transverse state, we demonstrate pulsed spin-lock Floquet control that prevents their decay over multiple-minute long periods. We observe Floquet prethermal lifetimes $T_2'\approx$90.9s, extended >60,000-fold over the nuclear free induction decay times. The spins themselves are continuously interrogated for $\sim$10min, corresponding to the application of $\approx$5.8M control pulses. The $^{13}$C nuclei are optically hyperpolarized by lattice Nitrogen Vacancy (NV) centers; the combination of hyperpolarization and continuous spin readout yields significant signal-to-noise in the measurements. This allows probing the Floquet thermalization dynamics with unprecedented clarity. We identify four characteristic regimes of the thermalization process, discerning short-time transient processes leading to the prethermal plateau, and long-time system heating towards infinite temperature. This work points to new opportunities possible via Floquet control in networks of dilute, randomly distributed, low-sensitivity nuclei. In particular, the combination of minutes-long prethermal lifetimes and continuous spin interrogation opens avenues for quantum sensors constructed from hyperpolarized Floquet prethermal nuclei.