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Cryogenics is a pivotal aspect in the development of quantum technologies. Closed-cycle devices have recently emerged as an environmentally friendly and low-maintenance alternative to liquid helium cryostats. Yet the larger level of vibrations in dry cryocoolers forbids their use in most sensitive applications. In a recent work, we have proposed an inertial, broadband, contactless sensor based on the piezospectroscopic effect, i.e., the natural sensitivity of optical lines to strain exhibited by impurities in solids. This sensor builds on the exceptional spectroscopic properties of rare earth ions and operates below 4 K, where spectral hole burning considerably enhances the sensitivity. In this paper, we investigate the fundamental and technical limitations of this vibration sensor by comparing a rigid sample attachment to the cold stage of a pulse-tube cryocooler and a custom-designed exchange gas chamber for acoustic isolation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report measurements of electron-spin-echo envelope modulation (ESEEM) performed at millikelvin temperatures in a custom-built high-sensitivity spectrometer based on superconducting micro-resonators. The high quality factor and small mode volume (down to 0.2 pL) of the resonator allow us to probe a small number of spins, down to 5×10². We measure two-pulse ESEEM on two systems: erbium ions coupled to 183W nuclei in a natural-abundance CaWO4 crystal and bismuth donors coupled to residual 29Si nuclei in a silicon substrate that was isotopically enriched in the 28Si isotope. We also measure three- and five-pulse ESEEM for the bismuth donors in silicon. Quantitative agreement is obtained for both the hyperfine coupling strength of proximal nuclei and the nuclear-spin concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vibrations in cryocoolers are a recurrent concern to the end user. They appear in different parts of the acoustic spectrum depending on the refrigerator type, Gifford McMahon or pulse-tube, and with a variable coupling strength to the physical system under interest. Here, we use the piezospectroscopic effect in rare-earth doped crystals at a low temperature as a high resolution, contact-less probe for the vibrations. With this optical spectroscopic technique, we obtain and analyze the vibration spectrum up to 700 kHz of a 2 kW pulse-tube cooler. We attempt an absolute calibration based on known experimental parameters to make our method partially quantitative and to provide a possible comparison with other well-established techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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