Long-lived divergence from equilibrium of electrons, nuclear spins and lattice for a solid state ion trap at low temperature
The research investigated how electrons, nuclear spins, and phonons equilibrate in a solid-state ion trap using optical methods on Ho3+ ions in LiYF4 salt. The key finding is that at low temperatures, different experimental setups lead to vastly different non-equilibrium states. Nuclear spins diffuse without phonons and become hotter than the electronic spins and lattice.