Spin-force from a Nitrogen-Vacancy ensemble drives a 100 mg levitated resonator

Nayak, Anshuman 1 ; Kim, Daehee1 ; Tian, Shilu1 ; Twamley, Jason1

Published Sep 08, 2026 on Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.4xgxd25q4

Data files

Sep 08, 2026 version files 3.28 GB

README.md

4.39 KB
submit_revision_sci_adv_july.zip

3.28 GB

Abstract

The force experienced by a spin in a magnetic field gradient underlies many proposals for hybrid quantum systems. These include schemes for mechanically mediated quantum gates, spin squeezing, search for exotic forces, and motional superpositions for probing the interface between quantum and gravity. Yet, experimentally observing this spin-force for anything larger than atomic scales has proved challenging. In our work, we demonstrate controllable Center-of-Mass motion of a 128 mg diamagnetically levitated oscillator due to the force from an ensemble of Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) defects in diamond. We induce coherent motion in the oscillator by periodic optical initialization of the NV spin states, achieving motional amplitudes exceeding 100 nm. Our results mark a key milestone towards spin-based engineering of non-classical motional states deep in the high-mass regime. This dataset contains all the data and code required to reproduce the figures in the main and supplementary sections of the paper.

Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.4xgxd25q4

Description of the data and file structure

This is the dataset used to create the figures in the manuscript, "Spin-force from a Nitrogen-Vacancy ensemble drives a 100 mg levitated resonator," which looks at the driving motion of a levitated resonator using force from ensemble NV centers. All the dataset is contained in a single compressed .zip folder submit_revision_sci_adv_july.zip.

Files and variables

This dataset contains the folder submit_revision_sci_adv_july.zip, which has raw .h5 files, and the associated Python code to read the .h5 files and do analysis. It also contains additional Mathematica and MATLAB files for additional analysis and plotting. The datasets are divided into folders, corresponding to the figures in the manuscript.

Fig1 folder contains Mathematica code that simulates the spin-force as a function of angle, for Figure 1 c in the main manuscript.
Fig2 to Fig4 folders contain the raw .h5 files which contain the position data as a function of time. The Python code in the folder processes the data to make the Excel files of position as a function of time. The corresponding Excel .xlsx files are in the same folder. This Excel file is then read by a Mathematica file in the folder to be plotted and compared with the simulations, also in the same Mathematica file. This gives the final figures Figure 2 to Figure 4 present in the manuscript.
Fig2b has timeseries data taken by oscilloscope as .scope.h5 file. It has two columns. ChanA which shows how laser intensity varies as a function of time, as measured by a photodetector in Volts [V]. ChanB column shows how the vertical position of the oscillator varies as a function of time upon the pulsed laser incidence, as outputted by the interferometer in Volts [V]. Fig2b data compares the phase relation of laser power and resultant motion.
FigS2 and FigS4 folders contain the Mathematica codes to simulate the magnetic fields and the 7-level populations presented in the supplementary manuscript.
FigS6 contain the timeseries data in .csv for plotting the position (vertical and horizontal) as a fuction of time without and with the laser pulsing, and the corresponding mathematica code for analysis
FigS7 has the .csv data file for PSD for vertical and horizontal motion when laser drive is on, and the corresponding mathematica file for plotting
FigS8 has the FRA data as .txt file for horizontal and vertical motion when we pulse the diamond with laser, with and without the magnet
FigS9 has the .h5 files for dead measurement of position as well as measurement of position with laser pulsing, in air and in high vacuum. The python file then converts the raw file to .xlsx file and the Mathematica file then plots the figure for the measurement.
FigS10 has the .h5 files for the position timeseries of the oscillator, as we pulse the diamond with laser at different magnet distances. This is then read by the python file which then analyses it and extracts the peak amplitude and gives the .xlsx file. This is then read by mathematica file which converts the amplitude to force, and plots the force as a function of magnet distance.
FigS11 has the .h5 files for measurement of position with laser pulsing with and without the magnet . The python file then converts the raw file to .xlsx file of Power Spectral Density and the Mathematica file then plots the figure .
The videos folders contain the two supplementary videos in the manuscript.

Note on the .h5 files: The .h5 files are data generated from the interferometric readout of the position of the levitated oscillator along the vertical (z) direction. Each .h5 files contains 3 columns. The first column is time in seconds [s]. The second column is position in meters [m], corresponding the position of the oscillator at that given time. The third column is the velocity in meters per second [m/s], corresponding the velocity of the oscillator at that given time. The sampling rate at which the data was taken is 2.44 kilo Hertz [kHz].

The instruction to run each dataset and codes is given separately within each folder.

Code/software

To run the data, one would need Mathematica (13.2.1.0), Python (3.12.8), and MATLAB (R2022a).