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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Observation of period doubling and higher multiplicities in a driven single-spin system

Dhruv Deshmukh1,2,*, Raúl B. González2,3,†, Roberto Sailer2,3,‡, Fedor Jelezko2,3, Ressa S. Said2,3,§, and Joachim Ankerhold1,2,∥

  • *Contact author: dhruv.deshmukh@uni-ulm.de
  • †Contact author: raul.gonzalez-brouwer@uni-ulm.de
  • ‡Contact author: roberto.sailer@uni-ulm.de
  • §Present address: XeedQ GmbH, Wilhelm-Runge-Straße 10/3, 89081 Ulm, Germany.
  • ∥Contact author: joachim.ankerhold@uni-ulm.de
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Phys. Rev. Research 8, L032011 – Published 21 July, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/wj1t-vk39

Abstract

One of the prime features of quantum systems strongly driven by external time-periodic fields is the subharmonic response with integer multiples of the drive period kTd due to long-lived interference. Here, we demonstrate experimentally, based on a careful theoretical analysis, period doubling and higher multiplicities (k=2,...,5) for one of the most fundamental systems, namely, an individual spin 1/2. Nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond support sufficiently stable coherent dynamics owing to long coherence times and allow for optical addressability of their spin states. This allows to monitor coherent period k-tupling oscillations over a broad set of driving parameters in the vicinity of the ideal manifolds. In this domain, superimposed low-frequency modulations serve as unique proxy for the approach toward period k-tupling.

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Supplemental Material

References (29)

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Phys. Rev. Research 8, L032011– Published 21 July, 2026
  • Received 23 July 2025
  • Accepted 4 June 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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