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© 2014 American Physical Society. Efficient manipulation of nuclear spins is important for utilizing them as qubits for quantum computing. In this work we report record high polarizations of 31P and Si29 nuclear spins in P-doped silicon in a strong magnetic field (4.6 T) and at temperatures below 1 K. We reached 31P nuclear polarization values exceeding 98% after 20 min of pumping the high-field electron spin resonance (ESR) line with a very small microwave power of 0.4 μW. We evaluate that the ratio of the hyperfine-state populations increases by three orders of magnitude after 2 hours of pumping, and an extremely pure nuclear spin state can be created, with less than 0.01 ppb impurities. A negative dynamic nuclear polarization has been observed by pumping the low-field ESR line of 31P followed by the flip-flip cross relaxation, the transition which is fully forbidden for isolated donors. We estimate that while pumping the ESR transitions of 31P also the nuclei of Si29 get polarized, and polarization exceeding 60% has been obtained. We performed measurements of relaxation rates of flip-flop and flip-flip transitions which turned out to be nearly temperature independent. Temperature dependence of the 31P nuclear relaxation was studied down to 0.75 K, below which the relaxation time became too long to be measured. We found that the polarization evolution under pumping and during relaxation deviates substantially from a simple exponential function of time. We suggest that the nonexponential polarization dynamics of 31P donors is mediated by the orientation of Si29 nuclei, which affect the transition probabilities of the forbidden cross-relaxation processes.

© 2014 American Physical Society. Efficient manipulation of nuclear spins is important for utilizing them as qubits for quantum computing. In this work we report record high polarizations of 31P and Si29 nuclear spins in P-doped silicon in a strong magnetic field (4.6 T) and at temperatures below 1 K. We reached 31P nuclear polarization values exceeding 98% after 20 min of pumping the high-field electron spin resonance (ESR) line with a very small microwave power of 0.4 μW. We evaluate that the ratio of the hyperfine-state populations increases by three orders of magnitude after 2 hours of pumping, and an extremely pure nuclear spin state can be created, with less than 0.01 ppb impurities. A negative dynamic nuclear polarization has been observed by pumping the low-field ESR line of 31P followed by the flip-flip cross relaxation, the transition which is fully forbidden for isolated donors. We estimate that while pumping the ESR transitions of 31P also the nuclei of Si29 get polarized, and polarization exceeding 60% has been obtained. We performed measurements of relaxation rates of flip-flop and flip-flip transitions which turned out to be nearly temperature independent. Temperature dependence of the 31P nuclear relaxation was studied down to 0.75 K, below which the relaxation time became too long to be measured. We found that the polarization evolution under pumping and during relaxation deviates substantially from a simple exponential function of time. We suggest that the nonexponential polarization dynamics of 31P donors is mediated by the orientation of Si29 nuclei, which affect the transition probabilities of the forbidden cross-relaxation processes.

© 2016 the Owner Societies.We report on a study of the exchange tunneling reaction D + HD → D2 + H in a pure solid HD matrix and in a D2 matrix with a 0.23% HD admixture at temperatures between 130 mK and 1.5 K. We found that the exchange reaction rates, kexHD ∼ 3 × 10-27 cm3 s-1 in the pure HD matrix, and kexD2 = 9(4) × 10-28 cm3 s-1 in the D2 matrix, are nearly independent of temperature within this range. This confirms the quantum tunnelling nature of these reactions, and their ability to proceed at temperatures down to absolute zero. Based on these observations we concluded that exchange tunneling reaction H + H2 → H2 + H should also proceed in a H2 matrix at the lowest temperatures. On the other hand, the recombination of H atoms in solid H2 and D atoms in solid D2 is substantially suppressed at the lowest temperatures as a result of a decreased probability of resonant tunneling of atoms when they approach each other.

© 2017, Springer-Verlag Wien.We present the results of experiments on dynamic nuclear polarization and relaxation of 75As in silicon crystals. Experiments are performed in strong magnetic fields of 4.6 T and temperatures below 1 K. At these conditions donor electron spins are fully polarized, and the allowed and forbidden electron spin resonance transitions are well resolved. We demonstrate effective nuclear polarization of 75As nuclei via the Overhauser effect on the time scale of several hundred seconds. Excitation of the forbidden transitions leads to a polarization through the solid effect. The relaxation rate of donor nuclei has strong temperature dependence characteristic of Orbach process.

© 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York.We report on the measurements of electrons trapped in solid molecular films of H (Formula presented.) , HD, and D (Formula presented.). A narrow ESR line associated with the trapped electrons was detected with (Formula presented.) , which turned out to be shifted by (Formula presented.) 0.3 G from the free electron resonance. Comparison is made with earlier measurements where a similar line has been seen. In addition, for a (Formula presented.) mixture, after raising the temperature above 1 K, we observe a strong line at the location of the electron cyclotron resonance. The line amplitude is dependent on temperature and has an activation energy of 26 K. We believe that at elevated temperatures, electrons diffuse from the bulk of the film to the surface.

We present a high magnetic field study of electron spin waves in atomic hydrogen gas compressed to high densities of ∼1018cm -3 at temperatures ranging from 0.26 to 0.6 K. We observed a variety of spin wave modes caused by the identical spin rotation effect with strong dependence on the spatial profile of the polarizing magnetic field. We demonstrate confinement of these modes in regions of strong magnetic field and manipulate their spatial distribution by changing the position of the field maximum. © 2012 American Physical Society.

© 2015 American Physical Society. We report on experimental observation of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC)-like behavior of quantized electron spin waves (magnons) in a dense gas of spin-polarized atomic hydrogen. The magnons are trapped and controlled with inhomogeneous magnetic fields and described by a Schrödinger-like wave equation, in analogy to the BEC experiments with neutral atoms. We have observed the appearance of a sharp feature in the ESR spectrum displaced from the normal spin wave spectrum. We believe that this observation corresponds to a sudden growth of the ground-state population of the magnons and emergence of their spontaneous coherence for hydrogen gas densities exceeding a critical value, dependent on the trapping potential. We interpret the results as a BEC of nonequilibrium magnons which were formed by applying the rf power.

© 2014 American Physical Society. We report on magnetic resonance studies of high-density atomic hydrogen and deuterium in solid hydrogen matrices at temperatures below 1 K. Average concentrations of H atoms ≈3×1019 cm-3 are obtained in chemical tunneling reactions of isotope exchange with D atoms. The products of these reactions are closely located pairs of H atoms near D2 molecules with strong exchange interactions. We discovered a dynamic nuclear polarization effect on H atoms created by pumping the center of the H electron spin resonance spectrum, similar to the Overhauser effect in metals. Our results indicate that H atoms may be arranged inside molecular matrices at separations equivalent to local concentrations of 2.6×1021 cm-3. This opens up a way to build a metallic state of atomic hydrogen at zero pressure.

We present the design and performance of an experimental cell constructed for matrix isolation studies of H and D atoms in solid H2/D 2 films, which are created by molecular beam deposition at temperatures below 1 K. The sample cell allows sensitive weighing of the films by a quartz microbalance (QM) and their studies by magnetic resonance techniques in a strong magnetic field of 4.6 T. We are able to regulate the deposition rate in the range from 0.01 to 10 molecular layers/s, and measure the thickness with ∼0.2 monolayer resolution. The upper QM electrode serves as a mirror for a 128 GHz Fabry-Perot resonator connected to an electron spin resonance (ESR) spectrometer. H and D atoms were created by RF discharge in situ in the sample cell, and characterized by ESR and electron-nuclear double resonance. From the magnetic resonance measurements we conclude that the films are smooth and provide homogeneous trapping conditions for embedded atoms. The current sample cell design also makes it possible to calibrate the ESR signal and estimate the average and local concentrations of H and D radicals in the film. © 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.

© 2015 American Physical Society. We demonstrate an efficient control of Si29 nuclear spins for specific lattice sites near P31 donors in silicon at temperatures below 1 K and in a high magnetic field of 4.6 T. Excitation of the forbidden electron-nuclear transitions leads to a pattern of well-resolved holes and peaks in the electron spin resonance (ESR) lines of P31. The pattern originates from dynamic polarization (DNP) of the Si29 nuclear spins near the donors via the solid effect. DNP of Si29 is demonstrated also with the Overhauser effect where the allowed ESR transitions are excited. In this case mostly the remote Si29 nuclei having weak interaction with the donors are polarized, which results in a single hole and a sharp peak pair in the ESR spectrum. Our work shows that the solid effect can be used for initialization of Si29 nuclear spin qubits near the donors.

© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media New York We report on the measurements of electrons trapped in solid molecular films of H(Formula presented.), HD, and D(Formula presented.). A narrow ESR line associated with the trapped electrons was detected with (Formula presented.), which turned out to be shifted by (Formula presented.)0.3 G from the free electron resonance. Comparison is made with earlier measurements where a similar line has been seen. In addition, for a (Formula presented.) mixture, after raising the temperature above 1 K, we observe a strong line at the location of the electron cyclotron resonance. The line amplitude is dependent on temperature and has an activation energy of 26 K. We believe that at elevated temperatures, electrons diffuse from the bulk of the film to the surface.

© 2016 the Owner Societies.We report on a study of the exchange tunneling reaction D + HD → D2 + H in a pure solid HD matrix and in a D2 matrix with a 0.23% HD admixture at temperatures between 130 mK and 1.5 K. We found that the exchange reaction rates, kexHD ∼ 3 × 10-27 cm3 s-1 in the pure HD matrix, and kexD2 = 9(4) × 10-28 cm3 s-1 in the D2 matrix, are nearly independent of temperature within this range. This confirms the quantum tunnelling nature of these reactions, and their ability to proceed at temperatures down to absolute zero. Based on these observations we concluded that exchange tunneling reaction H + H2 → H2 + H should also proceed in a H2 matrix at the lowest temperatures. On the other hand, the recombination of H atoms in solid H2 and D atoms in solid D2 is substantially suppressed at the lowest temperatures as a result of a decreased probability of resonant tunneling of atoms when they approach each other.

© 2017, Springer-Verlag Wien.We present the results of experiments on dynamic nuclear polarization and relaxation of 75As in silicon crystals. Experiments are performed in strong magnetic fields of 4.6 T and temperatures below 1 K. At these conditions donor electron spins are fully polarized, and the allowed and forbidden electron spin resonance transitions are well resolved. We demonstrate effective nuclear polarization of 75As nuclei via the Overhauser effect on the time scale of several hundred seconds. Excitation of the forbidden transitions leads to a polarization through the solid effect. The relaxation rate of donor nuclei has strong temperature dependence characteristic of Orbach process.

© 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York.We report on the measurements of electrons trapped in solid molecular films of H (Formula presented.) , HD, and D (Formula presented.). A narrow ESR line associated with the trapped electrons was detected with (Formula presented.) , which turned out to be shifted by (Formula presented.) 0.3 G from the free electron resonance. Comparison is made with earlier measurements where a similar line has been seen. In addition, for a (Formula presented.) mixture, after raising the temperature above 1 K, we observe a strong line at the location of the electron cyclotron resonance. The line amplitude is dependent on temperature and has an activation energy of 26 K. We believe that at elevated temperatures, electrons diffuse from the bulk of the film to the surface.

© 2015 American Physical Society. We demonstrate an efficient control of Si29 nuclear spins for specific lattice sites near P31 donors in silicon at temperatures below 1 K and in a high magnetic field of 4.6 T. Excitation of the forbidden electron-nuclear transitions leads to a pattern of well-resolved holes and peaks in the electron spin resonance (ESR) lines of P31. The pattern originates from dynamic polarization (DNP) of the Si29 nuclear spins near the donors via the solid effect. DNP of Si29 is demonstrated also with the Overhauser effect where the allowed ESR transitions are excited. In this case mostly the remote Si29 nuclei having weak interaction with the donors are polarized, which results in a single hole and a sharp peak pair in the ESR spectrum. Our work shows that the solid effect can be used for initialization of Si29 nuclear spin qubits near the donors.

© 2014 American Physical Society. We report on magnetic resonance studies of high-density atomic hydrogen and deuterium in solid hydrogen matrices at temperatures below 1 K. Average concentrations of H atoms ≈3×1019 cm-3 are obtained in chemical tunneling reactions of isotope exchange with D atoms. The products of these reactions are closely located pairs of H atoms near D2 molecules with strong exchange interactions. We discovered a dynamic nuclear polarization effect on H atoms created by pumping the center of the H electron spin resonance spectrum, similar to the Overhauser effect in metals. Our results indicate that H atoms may be arranged inside molecular matrices at separations equivalent to local concentrations of 2.6×1021 cm-3. This opens up a way to build a metallic state of atomic hydrogen at zero pressure.

© 2015 American Physical Society. We report on experimental observation of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC)-like behavior of quantized electron spin waves (magnons) in a dense gas of spin-polarized atomic hydrogen. The magnons are trapped and controlled with inhomogeneous magnetic fields and described by a Schrödinger-like wave equation, in analogy to the BEC experiments with neutral atoms. We have observed the appearance of a sharp feature in the ESR spectrum displaced from the normal spin wave spectrum. We believe that this observation corresponds to a sudden growth of the ground-state population of the magnons and emergence of their spontaneous coherence for hydrogen gas densities exceeding a critical value, dependent on the trapping potential. We interpret the results as a BEC of nonequilibrium magnons which were formed by applying the rf power.

We present the design and performance of an experimental cell constructed for matrix isolation studies of H and D atoms in solid H2/D 2 films, which are created by molecular beam deposition at temperatures below 1 K. The sample cell allows sensitive weighing of the films by a quartz microbalance (QM) and their studies by magnetic resonance techniques in a strong magnetic field of 4.6 T. We are able to regulate the deposition rate in the range from 0.01 to 10 molecular layers/s, and measure the thickness with ∼0.2 monolayer resolution. The upper QM electrode serves as a mirror for a 128 GHz Fabry-Perot resonator connected to an electron spin resonance (ESR) spectrometer. H and D atoms were created by RF discharge in situ in the sample cell, and characterized by ESR and electron-nuclear double resonance. From the magnetic resonance measurements we conclude that the films are smooth and provide homogeneous trapping conditions for embedded atoms. The current sample cell design also makes it possible to calibrate the ESR signal and estimate the average and local concentrations of H and D radicals in the film. © 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.

We present a high magnetic field study of electron spin waves in atomic hydrogen gas compressed to high densities of ∼1018cm -3 at temperatures ranging from 0.26 to 0.6 K. We observed a variety of spin wave modes caused by the identical spin rotation effect with strong dependence on the spatial profile of the polarizing magnetic field. We demonstrate confinement of these modes in regions of strong magnetic field and manipulate their spatial distribution by changing the position of the field maximum. © 2012 American Physical Society.

© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media New York We report on the measurements of electrons trapped in solid molecular films of H(Formula presented.), HD, and D(Formula presented.). A narrow ESR line associated with the trapped electrons was detected with (Formula presented.), which turned out to be shifted by (Formula presented.)0.3 G from the free electron resonance. Comparison is made with earlier measurements where a similar line has been seen. In addition, for a (Formula presented.) mixture, after raising the temperature above 1 K, we observe a strong line at the location of the electron cyclotron resonance. The line amplitude is dependent on temperature and has an activation energy of 26 K. We believe that at elevated temperatures, electrons diffuse from the bulk of the film to the surface.