Scalable phonon-laser arrays with self-organized synchronization
Phys. Rev. B 114, 024310 – Published 13 July, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/knn8-bkn3
Abstract
Quantum mechanical oscillators operating at frequencies up to the GHz regime have been predicted to support phonon lasing: self-sustained coherent vibrational motion emerging when the effective gain exceeds intrinsic losses. Current phonon-laser proposals face two key limitations, namely, they lack scalability and rely on coupling all oscillators to a common field, which significantly restricts flexibility and prevents selective on-demand phonon lasing at specific locations. Given that numerous applications and theoretical insights naturally emerge from scalable collective systems, addressing these limitations is timely. In this work, we demonstrate how scalable arrays of individually addressable phonon lasers can be generated through local driving in a quantum many-body Ising-like spin chain. We rigorously establish the resonance conditions under which mechanical oscillators transition from thermal motion to sustained coherent self-oscillation. Unlike previous approaches that rely on a common coupling bus, our proposal employs purely local driving, resulting in an inherently modular and scalable architecture ideally suited for integration into large-scale quantum systems. Additionally, our approach enables on-demand lasing of individual mechanical oscillators at specific sites by simply switching the spin-mechanical coupling interaction on and off, provided specific resonance conditions are satisfied. Notably, our phonon laser array continues to operate in the presence of resonance mismatches and naturally exhibits both pairwise self-organized synchronization and global phase locking near resonance. Finally, we outline an experimental implementation within current experimental capabilities.
