Quasiparticle Spin Resonance and Coherence in Superconducting Aluminium

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Spin/magnetisation relaxation and coherence times, respectively T₁ and T₂, initially defined in the context of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), are general concepts applicable to a wide range of systems, including quantum bits [1-4]. At first glance, these ideas might seem to be irrelevant to conventional Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) superconductors, as the BCS superconducting ground state is a condensate of Cooper pairs of electrons with opposite spins (in a singlet state) [5]. It has recently been demonstrated, however, that a non-equilibrium magnetisation can appear in the quasiparticle (i.e. excitation) population of a conventional superconductor, with relaxation times on the order of several nanoseconds [6-10]. This raises the question of the spin coherence time of quasiparticles in superconductors and whether this can be measured through resonance experiments analogous to NMR and electron spin resonance (ESR). We have performed such measurements in aluminium and find a quasiparticle spin coherence time of 95+/-20ps.