We study the depolarization dynamics of a dense ensemble of dipolar interacting spins, associated with nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond. We observe anomalously fast, density-dependent, and non-exponential spin relaxation. To explain these observations, we propose a microscopic model where an interplay of long-range interactions, disorder, and dissipation leads to predictions that are in quantitative agreement with both current and prior experimental results. Our results pave the way for controlled many-body experiments with long-lived and strongly interacting ensembles of solid-state spins.
@article{arxiv.1608.05471,
title = {Depolarization dynamics in a strongly interacting solid-state spin ensemble},
author = {Joonhee Choi and Soonwon Choi and Georg Kucsko and Peter C. Maurer and Brendan J. Shields and Hitoshi Sumiya and Shinobu Onoda and Junichi Isoya and Eugene Demler and Fedor Jelezko and Norman Y. Yao and Mikhail D. Lukin},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1608.05471},
year = {2017}
}