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One of the key challenges in spectroscopy is the inhomogeneous broadening that masks the homogeneous spectral lineshape and the underlying coherent dynamics. Techniques such as four-wave mixing and spectral hole-burning are used in optical spectroscopy, and spin-echo in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). However, the high-power pulses used in spin-echo and other sequences often create spurious dynamics obscuring the subtle spin correlations important for quantum technologies. Here we develop NMR techniques to probe the correlation times of the fluctuations in a nuclear spin bath of individual quantum dots, using frequency-comb excitation, allowing for the homogeneous NMR lineshapes to be measured without high-power pulses. We find nuclear spin correlation times exceeding one second in self-assembled InGaAs quantum dots - four orders of magnitude longer than in strain-free III-V semiconductors. This observed freezing of the nuclear spin fluctuations suggests ways of designing quantum dot spin qubits with a well-understood, highly stable nuclear spin bath.

Spin ice illustrates many unusual magnetic properties, including zero point entropy, emergent monopoles and a quasi liquid–gas transition. To reveal the quantum spin dynamics that underpin these phenomena is an experimental challenge. Here we show how crucial information is contained in the frequency dependence of the magnetic susceptibility and in its high frequency or adiabatic limit. The typical response of Dy2Ti2O7 spin ice indicates that monopole diffusion is Brownian but is underpinned by spin tunnelling and is influenced by collective monopole interactions. The adiabatic response reveals evidence of driven monopole plasma oscillations in weak applied field, and unconventional critical behaviour in strong applied field. Our results clarify the origin of the relatively high frequency response in spin ice. They disclose unexpected physics and establish adiabatic susceptibility as a revealing characteristic of exotic spin systems., Isolated magnetic monopoles are usually forbidden, but can arise as quasiparticles in magnetically frustrated spin-ice materials. Bovo et al. explore the classical and quantum natures of these excitations through their influence on the high frequency magnetic susceptibility of dysprosium titanate.