Spin resonance without a spin: A microwave analog

Abstract

An analog of nuclear magnetic resonance is realized in a microwave network with symplectic symmetry. The network consists of two identical subgraphs coupled by a pair of bonds with a length difference corresponding to a phase difference of $\pi$ for the waves traveling through the bonds. As a consequence all eigenvalues appear as Kramers doublets. Detuning the length difference from the $\pi$ condition Kramers degeneracy is lifted, which may be interpreted as a Zeeman splitting of a spin 1/2 in a magnetic field. The lengths of another pair of bonds are modulated periodically with frequencies of some 10 MHz by means of diodes, thus emulating a magnetic radiofrequency field. Features well-known from NMR such as the transition from the laboratory to the rotating frame, and Lorentzian shaped resonance curves can thus be realized.