Physicists discover how fundamental particles lose track of quantum mechanical properties

A series of direct experiments coupled to theoretical simulations demonstrate that spins in diamond serve as a nearly ideal, adjustable, model of central spin.

“This work demonstrates a rare level of synergy between experiment, analytical theory, and computer simulations,” said Dobrovitski. “These three constituents all agree, support, and complement each other. Together, they give a lucid qualitative picture of what happens with spin centers in diamond, and, at the same time, provide a quantitatively accurate description. This agreement is hard to anticipate in advance for such complex systems, where many nuclear and electron quantum spins interact with each other.”

Studies of the quantum dynamics of spins in diamond is an emerging topic involving several leading research groups worldwide. It may also be important in the context of recent interest in possible carbon-based electronic devices employing carbon nanotubes and/or graphene.

Awschalom won the APS Oliver E. Buckley Prize for fundamental contributions to experimental studies of quantum spin dynamics and spin coherence in condensed matter systems. Awschalom’s other honors include the Agilent Europhysics Prize, the AAAS Newcomb-Cleveland Prize, the Outstanding Investigator Prize from the Materials Research Society, and the Magnetism Prize of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Awschalom earned his B.S. in physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and his Ph.D. in experimental physics at Cornell University. He joined the UC Santa Barbara faculty as a professor of physics in 1991. His research has been chronicled in his more than 300 scientific journal articles, and has also been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Dallas Morning News, Discover magazine, Scientific American, Physics World, and New Scientist. His research focuses on optical and magnetic interactions in semiconductor quantum structures, spin dynamics and coherence in condensed matter systems, macroscopic quantum phenomena in nanometer-scale magnets, and quantum information processing in the solid state.

Note to Editors: David Awschalom can be reached at (805) 893-2121, or at